Nine Lives Has A Cat
by tantulum
Summary: AU The Russian smirked and his eyes were glowing mischievously in the dark. “I made you do it because I thought you were hot and that way you had to come to my table more often.”
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Beyblade, this is purely fiction!

Warning for language and lemon.

* * *

"Hey! You're ba-" Rei started calling out to his boyfriend as he entered their shared apartment, happy to realise that he had returned earlier from his family meeting than he had thought, but he was interrupted by said person before he was even able to finish his sentence.

"Where were you?"

Rei frowned inwardly with the harsh tone of the other's voice but he continued smiling at him cheerfully whilst putting away his jacket. "I was out, sorry I didn't leave you a message but I thought you wouldn't return before Monday."

"Too bad then that I messed up your plans, isn't it? I'm honestly sorry." It was impossible to mistake the sarcasm and mockery in his voice. This time Rei frowned on the outside, too.

"Plans? Kai, what are you talking about… what's wrong?" He turned his head to the side slightly - an unconscious habit - and looked at his boyfriend inquisitively. This was nothing new; Kai was always in a bad mood when he returned from having had to meet up with his relatives, but normally he tried to hide it in front of Rei rather than outright snapping at him.

Kai snorted. "Well, obviously you've already made plans for your 'Kai free weekend', haven't you? So really, I'm terribly sorry for being back already and ruining it for you but then again don't let me disturb you. Just pretend I'm not here and continue on with your-"

Rei was getting impatient. "Okay, that's enough now, why don't you just tell me what's your problem instead of giving me this cryptic shit? I'm not a mind reader."

"Oh, so there is indeed something the great Rei Kon isn't able to accomplish, what a relief; I was afraid all the worship you get from the people around you would've given you a God complex already."

The Chinese felt slight anger building up inside of him. What was wrong with Kai, why did he act so damn hostile towards him? He tried his best to stay calm. Letting himself be baited into a stupid argument wouldn't do any good for either of them. Well, maybe it would do something for Kai; he obviously wanted an argument at the moment but Rei really didn't feel the need to play along with this. "Kai, I really have no idea what's going on with you right now but I can't help you, if you do-"

"Help?" Kai drew a brow in a sardonic manner. "Who said anything about _me_ needing _your_ help? Not everyone is desperately craving your attention."

Wow, now he was seriously going a bit too far. Rei's golden orbs were starting to narrow before he could prevent it. Kai would be able to see that he had succeeded in rousing his anger. Nothing that could be done about that now. "Well, the way you're behaving now speaks differently. I'd say you're practically screaming for my attention."

The Russian stared at him then scowled and crossed his arms over his chest. That meant he wasn't so far off with his assumption but of course Kai wouldn't be Kai if he'd easily admit to that - _ever_. "Don't get all psychological on me now, Rei. Maybe that works with your dimwitted customers who have nothing better to do than waste away their time at a café listening to the attractive waiter's babbling because they think they've got a chance to get him in bed." Kai's eyes were cold and his face showed something akin to disgust. Rei's eyes widened. For a short second he wasn't sure if it was aimed at the dimwitted customers or… _him_. He felt hurt - betrayed.

"Fine. I'll just keep my mouth shut then and save my words for the _dimwitted customers_ who only pretend to be interested in what I've got to say because they want to get me in bed." He was almost sneering, and his golden orbs were flashing dangerously.

The Russian opened his mouth and for a moment, just for a moment Rei thought there was something near remorse visible in his dark eyes but then it was gone again, replaced by an expression of bitterness. He suddenly walked towards him and grabbed for his hand, crudely turning it upside down. Stunned by the abrupt action, Rei allowed for this rude handling and then stared at the piece of paper Kai had just pressed into his palm.

"You don't need to save them for long. Some ferret called and told me to give you his number since you hadn't called after he wrote it on a tissue, so he assumed you accidentally threw it away."

Kai gave him a last glare then he stormed away in the direction of his room, leaving Rei to gawk at his retreating back, dumbstruck. So, that was the reason his boyfriend was so damn mad at him? A silly phone call from some random guy who…but wait a moment there - how had that guy even gotten his home phone number? He wasn't listed in the phonebook and he had made sure to drill it into his colleague's heads at work that they had no permission to give any numbers of his to anyone – especially not to customers who were trying to get him into bed.

Great. He had just supported Kai's stupid prejudices with his own thoughts. So, how was it possible that someone had called here? And just what luck did he have that it was Kai who had to answer the phone, and that after just having returned from his trip to the family from hell? Was someone trying to nettle him? – Huh, maybe that was the answer to it.

He sighed and walked through the living room until he was standing in front of Kai's bedroom door. Better to get this over with. He knocked.

"Kai, can we talk?" He waited patiently at first but after having received no answer for three minutes or so he knocked again. "Kai?" The door was flung open and he was confronted with the stone mask that was the face of his boyfriend.

"What's to talk about?" Kai snapped at him.

Rei tried to form a facial expression that was somehow soothing and waved the paper in front of Kai. "You're not honestly angry at me because of this?"

His boyfriend's eyes narrowed and his whole body went rigid. "Who said I was angry?" He asked, stubbornly and warningly at the same time, daring him to try and contradict this.

If he hadn't known that it would aggravate Kai even more, Rei would've laughed loudly about his childish demeanor. "Yeah, sure you're not angry, I'm glad you aren't because there's no reason to be."

Kai's look darkened – even more than it had been before. Astonishing, Rei thought. "Good, then everything's clear, isn't it? Glad we talked about it." He attempted to shut the door again but Rei had anticipated exactly this behavior and slipped agilely into the room before he could do just that.

"Rei!" Kai sneered, turning towards him angrily.

"What, Kai? What do you want me to say? I'm sorry, okay, that some guy called and bothered you but I had nothing to do with it, I swear."

The Russian gave him an icy look, crossing his arms again. "Really? And how did this guy get your number then?"

Rei nodded in acknowledgement of this source of doubt, even as he thought that Kai should know him better than that. "I thought about that as well," he shrugged. "I think it was Mariah. You see we had… a little argument about… some things and she was kinda mad at me. So yeah, I think something like that would be her idea of a good revenge."

Kai, who had narrowed his eyes viciously at hearing the girl's name, was staring at him unconvinced but there was at least some uncertainty in his gaze; that was… a start. "She couldn't have known that I would return so early."

"Actually, I'm not sure she even knew you were gone in the first place. I didn't tell her since we aren't speaking to each other, and I don't think any of the other guys did." He frowned. "I did see her though at the club we were at tonight so it's presumable that she saw me there as well – without you for that matter..." He looked at Kai expectantly. He sure was intelligent enough to get the point by now even if his mind was slightly disturbed at the moment by his… unjustified feelings of jealousy.

"Fine, so let's say the pink nuisance really handed that guy your number, why didn't you tell me bout the thing with the tissue?"

Rei's mouth stood almost agape and he was blinking and then staring at Kai with an expression of total bewilderment on his face. "I forgot." He said honestly. "It wasn't of any importance to me. God, Kai, in the business I work in getting offered phone numbers is nothing special, it happens all the time and no one makes a big deal out of it."

Obviously he had said something very wrong yet again because Kai's eyes were shooting daggers at him. "So what you mean is it's nothing special if you exchange numbers with your customers behind your boyfriend's back?!"

The black haired man couldn't believe it! What was Kai getting out of it, twisting the words from his mouth in such a devilish manner?! "I never said anything about exchanging them! And I never ever would give a customer my number!"

Kai looked at him almost triumphantly. "You gave _me_ your number."

Rei's eyes almost bulged out of his head. THAT, that … just wasn't possible! Had Kai completely and utterly lost his last functional brain cell?! "We did fucking hang out together at the time already!"

His boyfriend continued playing stubborn. "What you're saying is-"

"No." Rei interrupted him, shaking his head before he was forced to listen to anymore of the crap his (obviously insane) life partner momentarily came up with. "You know what? I'm not saying anything at all anymore! I'm going. You can come and talk to me again when your brain has returned! The show you're putting on at the moment really doesn't suit you!" He bypassed his boyfriend, golden orbs glistering enraged, and rushed out of his room.

"So now I'm beneath your level, eh?! That's great, just great Rei! Maybe you should call the guy after all so that you can talk to someone who fits your idea of a _suitable_ conversationalist better!"

When Kai was belting his last words after him Rei had already reached the bathroom and slammed the door behind him loudly. He was fuming. What was this damn idiot thinking?! Or better - was he thinking at all?! What did he try to make of him here? A slut who handed his number to anyone who spoke a few friendly words to him? Had he ever, _ever_ given Kai any reasons to doubt him? No, he hadn't! So why, why was the only guy he really was interested in – who should _know_ this by now, goddamnit! – treating him like he had almost cheated on him when all he'd done was throw away a stupid tissue with a number written on it _without_ telling his lunatic boyfriend?! In fact, he was fucking glad now that he hadn't told Kai every single damn time he had gotten a number from someone if he had to listen to such an episode afterwards. This wasn't normal!

Rei took a quick shower, trying to keep his hair dry since he really didn't feel in the mood to dry it afterwards and didn't want to fight with his tangles in the morning. He brushed his teeth, still angry glaring in the mirror, before he went straight to bed – in his own room. Just as well that he and Kai had never been able to come to an agreement on which room they liked best to have as a bedroom and which bed was more comfortable; they had thus just decided to have two bedrooms and switch turns in using them. Everyone needed a little privacy once in a while anyway, and right now Rei really was glad he could have that. He felt like kicking Kai in the guts - at least twice - with his ski boots on!

Next thing would be that when Rei was having a martial arts competition again, Kai would tell him he just used the sport as an opportunity to feel up other guys. HA! Maybe he should've suggested that in their argument, then Kai would've had even more to brood over – oh, how he hoped Kai was brooding! It was just righteous! If he wouldn't get any sleep about this – and he had a feeling he wouldn't - Kai shouldn't get any sleep either! Maybe he should take the phone, go out in the living room and then pretend… Nah! Now he really was getting childish. Great. That was what the Russian was doing to him. Stealing his sleep and putting childish thoughts into his head!

Why was Kai so insecure about their relationship? Maybe he had really done something to… NO! He shouldn't start thinking that! He would not - he would _not_ begin to blame himself for something his boyfriend had totally fucked up! It was always like this. Whenever they argued Rei was the one left feeling guilty and, eventually, apologizing.

Not this time! He hadn't done a single thing to deserve this kind of treatment! But maybe… the call hadn't been all that had bothered Kai. Rei hadn't even gotten a chance to ask him about his short trip to Russia; maybe something had happened that had aggravated him – even more than usual - and that was why he had so totally overreacted in the 'tissue issue'. Hn. Funny. Tissue iss… ugh, where had he been? Oh yeah, Kai and his earlier performance. Seriously, how could he…

The door creaked and was opened, and then a shadow slipped inside, making its way silently over to the bed. Inwardly Rei was fighting with himself. Whatever Kai was about to say or do, he shouldn't give in easily. His boyfriend had hurt him today and he should know it! The cover was lifted and a warm body slipped into the unoccupied space beside him, and Rei was suddenly engulfed in two arms and warm breath was ghosting over his neck.

"M'sorry."

He heard a soft mumble that was followed by an even softer kiss to his throat and he almost couldn't believe it. Kai, _the_ Kai Hiwatari was apologizing, he was apologizing to him! So, wonders and miracles did indeed exist. Still…

An evil smirk was forming on his lips. "What did you say? I couldn't hear you."

A growl. Kai knew he was pulling his leg but that was just fine, he had wanted it to be this way. "You heard me."

"I heard… something but I'm not sure what it was, having almost been asleep and all..."

"You were not almost asleep, I know you."

"Really?" Now it was Rei's turn to become sarcastic. "Strangely enough that's not the impression I got today."

There was a long moment of silence and Rei was not certain Kai would say anything at all anymore but then he spoke.

"I'm sorry, Rei, I, I shouldn't have lost it so badly. I was just… angry about… mainly myself, I guess and I let it out on you." A nose started to nuzzle his neck. "Do you think you can forgive your asshole boyfriend this time?"

He wanted to forgive him, he really wanted to but something inside of him was having objections. "Well, maybe if you could explain this a little bit better to me. Were you honestly thinking that I was planning on meeting up with this guy whilst you were gone?" This question was really bothering him for a while now. If the Russian had that little trust in him…

Kai sighed. "No, that's not it, Rei. I was just… I was already in a shitty mood this whole day and the call… I didn't think you would… I didn't think much at all, okay? I was… damn, I'm not good at explaining those things, you know that." He was growling in frustration now.

"Just try it, all right? For me?"

He knew it was a lot he was demanding of his partner; Kai wasn't the type who liked expressing feelings through words, at least not if it was anything else but anger.

"I just… hell, it's just pissing me off sometimes that there so many people out there that… I mean, who wouldn't want you, Rei? I knew I did from the first moment we met!"

This time Rei had to laugh and he was turning in his boyfriend's arms to be able to look him in the face. "Kai, you hated me the first time we met! You made me serve you new coffee, what was it? Five times over because it never was good enough for you!"

The Russian smirked and his eyes were glowing mischievously in the dark. "I made you do it because I thought you were hot and that way you had to come to my table more often."

Rei's mouth stood open agape, completely shocked over this new revelation. "You… bastard!"

"Hey, you were the one who poured the sixth coffee all over my lap. And you can tell me as many times as you like that it was just an accident, I don't believe you; your sense of balance is much too good for something like that to happen to you."

Now the Chinese was the one smirking. "You're right, it wasn't an accident."

Kai's eyes narrowed. "I knew it."

"I knew that you knew. There still wasn't much you could do about it, was there? I played my part convincingly. Everyone was sorry for me after you had stormed out barking at me so rudely."

"Hn. I can imagine that. You still came to me to apologize afterwards, because you wanted to see me again so badly." The expression on his face was more than smug and Rei drew a single brow.

"I came because Lee made me go, threatening that he would kick out my sorry ass if I didn't do it, you being the Hiwatari heir and all… "

His boyfriend frowned. "He couldn't kick you out, you own half of the place."

Rei laughed about that as well. "Now, Kai, I own it now. I didn't two years ago."

"Oh. That means…"

"Sorry if that's a blow to your ego but out of my own free will I never would have come! I thought you were an arrogant bastard, a good looking bastard I give you that, but a bastard nonetheless. "

Kai snorted. "And I thought you were an overfriendly, ass-liking little well, waiter."

"But hot."

"But hot." Kai admitted.

Rei smiled. "Y'know, keeping smiling and being polite in front of you, was one of the hardest things I ever had to do in my whole life and I dropped the act whenever I was entering the kitchen. The chef was quite shocked, for a fact, he had never heard me cuss that much ever before. Did you still think I was an ass-licker when I was pouring the coffee over you?"

"No, I thought you were someone with a death wish then."

"Oh, I did have a death wish at that time; it just wasn't meant for me."

His boyfriend chuckled. "Well, Rei, had I known you could be that entertaining, I would have visited your café more often."

"It was still often enough, believe me, and when you brought Tala and Brian along for the first time, I honestly was tempted to strangle at least one of you. I even refused to serve your table but Lee was unforgiving and I really couldn't afford to lose my job back then, since I had just moved in my new apartment."

The Russian looked at him almost reflectively. "Actually, I didn't bring them along. It was the other way around, they wanted to show something to me."

That was news to him. "Show something to you?"

The way Kai was grinning just about now did make Rei feel kind of uneasy. "Yes, they wanted to show me the hot waiter inside there and they even especially requested him for our table that's why Lee was so persistent towards you."

"Kai!" Rei yelled out mock offended and heaved himself up on his elbow.

His boyfriend simply shrugged. "What? I had nothing to do with it." He then bended forward and placed a soft kiss on his mouth. "I had wanted to keep you to myself."

Rei huffed. "I bet you were still having a great time watching the way the two shitheads were trying to get a rise out of me."

"Well, maybe it was a bit funny but what I found even better was the way you were talking them speechless the next time we'd met on neutral territory. They had no idea what hit them, they couldn't believe that the always smiling kitten suddenly turned out to be a tiger with real sharp claws."

The black haired man smiled, appeased. "You could've warned them, after all you already knew since my… apology had gotten a little out of hand at the end."

Kai drew a brow. "I _could_ have but it was more amusing that way… and little is good, for a moment back then I'd thought you were going to try and bite me."

He rolled his eyes at his boyfriend. "Stop constantly comparing me to a cat and don't exaggerate so much, you weren't exactly sociable to me either."

"But you _are_ like one, Rei, everyone thinks that." Kai laughed at the sore expression he showed and wiped a loose strand of black hair out of his face in a playful manner. "And you know," he said, whilst scooting closer to his ear, speaking in a low, husky tone, "I always had a thing for cats."

"Is that so?" Rei asked, a certain gleam showing itself in his eyes. "And here I thought you didn't like pets."

Kai was nibbling at his earlobe now. "I like _this_ pet."

"I'm _not_ a pet, Kai. " He stated in a cool manner.

"Are you sure?" The Russian had wandered down a bit with his mouth and was biting and licking at Rei's throat now. "Because I bet I could make you _purr_."

How unfair! The Chinese was just about to formulate some sort of protest when Kai's right hand found that one spot right underneath his left shoulder blade where he was very sensitive. He moaned.

"See, it already started."

"That's cheap. You're using – ahhh – unjust methods on – fuck!"

Kai's other hand was stroking his thigh now. "We're getting there, Rei, just be a little patient," he said in a throaty, low chuckle that made Rei shiver with pleasant anticipation and then Kai sought out his mouth. Hot lips were pressed against his in a fierce kiss and within seconds Rei's whole body felt like it was on fire. When Kai's tongue invaded his mouth he was ready to forgive him anything. Anything he'd ever done to him in the past and would do to him in the future, in this life and any life beyond. Yeah, such a good kisser was Kai.

Rei felt a slight tinge of disappointment when Kai's mouth dislocated itself from his again but when his boyfriend started trailing kisses along his throat traveling down to his collarbone, his hands always busy wandering to all the places he knew would make Rei's body react, a new wave of arousal washed right through him and he threw back his head, pressing it deeper into the pillow. Kai had reached his chest now and was taking one of his nipples between his teeth, releasing it for a second just to bite down yet again. He moaned and the Russian started licking over his hot flesh, making a trail of cool saliva that reached down to the brim of his boxers.

He then grabbed the fabric with his teeth starting to slowly pull it down. Rei heaved himself up on his elbows to be able to watch. Kai noticed and paused in his task, bringing up his head a little higher. Their eyes met. The Russian licked over his lips. The sight of this alone was enough to make Rei become completely hard.

"Do you know that all that made me survive this trip was the thought of what I would do to you when I was back here?"

The promise that stood in Kai's eyes was evident and the tone of his voice made Rei shudder whilst his heartbeat sped up drastically, but what pleased the Chinese the most was his boyfriend's admission that he had thought of him whilst he was gone. As he had reflected earlier Kai really was not a person for talking much about his feelings towards him and small comments like this were therefore all the more essential to him. Of course he had accepted the fact that his lover was closed up and sometimes even a bit cold in appearance, but still hearing from time to time that he was important to him, even if it was in a small teasing remark right before sex - it just made him feel happy. He smiled seductively and lowered his lids over his golden orbs.

"You mean, making me purr?"

The Russian smirked. "That and more." He then brought up a hand and pushed lightly against his chest to make him lay down again. "So c'mon, Rei, relax, leave everything to _me_."

The Chinese obliged, a smile still on his lips. For a moment he'd been tempted to ask how Kai's meeting with his parents had gone, but he knew his boyfriend would've been anything but delighted with that, especially_ now_. He would wait; surely there'd be a chance to get something out of him later. He already knew that it hadn't been that good. Kai's cutting words and his provocative behavior from earlier this evening had spoken volumes about it and he had confessed that he had been in shitty mood the whole day. He really wondered if… ahhh, damn! Kai was back to removing his boxers and the fabric was momentarily rubbing over his cock. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, lifting up his hips slightly to help his boyfriend in his mission. The Russian was using his hands now as well and pulled the boxers down completely right before throwing the entirely unnecessary piece of clothing to the floor.

And then Rei could feel Kai's tongue once more but not at the place he had expected it next – and that needed some attention pretty soon – but at the toes of his right foot. For the smallest of seconds he was thinking about how glad he was that he'd taken that shower because now at least he didn't need to be in awe that his boyfriend had to fight with a real unpleasant taste in his mouth, but then _he_ had to fight with something – his ticklishness. He bit on his lip and tried his best to hold himself together but when his boyfriend's tongue reached the sole of his foot, he really couldn't withstand the effect that sensation had upon him any longer.

"Kai," he laughed, "Kai, that's haha... Kai, that's really… haha… c'mon stop!" He drew back his feet and sat himself up.

"What's the matter, Kon?" His boyfriend asked, the corner of his mouth turning slightly upwards.

"I thought you wanted to make me purr, not laugh." Rei said still smiling broadly. "You knew I would when you were doing that."

Kai was crawling closer to him, his eyes fixed on his face. "I know a lot of things about you, Kon."

So they were playing the surname game again. Strangely enough it was something that seemed to turn his boyfriend on incredibly. The first time the both of them had had sex, they had still tended to call each other by surnames only. Well, they had also tended to glare at each other and make snappy comments about heritage, appearance and significant character traits. That hadn't stopped them though from having the greatest, most mind blowing sex in their lives, too.

Rei's eyes were shining. "Well, Hiwatari, I hope you do because otherwise you're going to lose your bet."

His boyfriend smirked, his face now only inches away from him. "I never lose."

The Chinese looked at him skeptically. "You _do_ lose sometimes or do I really need to remind you…" His words were cut off rather rudely when Kai's mouth was covering his in a needy kiss. Oh yes, the surname game certainly had made the Russian hot. And he proved that he knew him well indeed when his right hand started wandering to that one place under his shoulder blade again whilst his left went deeper, a lot deeper to be even more precise – it went in between his legs. Rei gasped into Kai's mouth and he used this chance to push forward with his tongue.

His boyfriend was stroking him now and Rei was feeling a new wave of heat washing right through him, shattering most of his thoughts that didn't evolve around sex and heat and – well, Kai. Said person's tongue was dancing in circles, challenging him, urging him on to put all in the kiss he had. And damn! Rei was trying his best!

They broke apart, gasping for air, their skins already sweaty, their bodies burning with undeniable desire.

"Lay down." Kai ordered and then started trailing kisses down Rei's skin until he had reached his goal. And then his mouth was at Rei's cock, and the Chinese moaned in pleasure when Kai started licking its underside first making his way slowly upwards. When his lips finally closed around him and Rei's own heat was mixing with the heat of Kai's mouth, the Chinese's hands were fisting themselves in the covers and his eyes were rolling slightly in the back and when the Russian's hand also started fumbling his balls… Motherfucking shit!

Rei wasn't certain if he was purring now but undeniably he produced lots of interesting noises, that much was sure. He was close, really close now. Kai's mouth and tongue and teeth all working him in just the right way – that was too much – and then the Russian… stopped. What the…?! An almost whiny sound escaped his lips.

"Not yet, Rei." Was all Kai gave him in return and then Rei could hear a drawer being opened and his whole body clenched for a moment in pleasant anticipation. His boyfriend was getting the lube.

But then… "Rei, it's empty…"

Damn! He had forgotten. "Ugh… It was my turn, wasn't it?"

"It was."

Double damn. "Well… in that case… I'm sorry? But it's not so bad now, is it, we could just use… hey, where are you going?"

"I'll be right back. Don't move." Kai's tone showed clearly that he wasn't amused at this interruption to their activities at exactly that moment. But hell, he had simply forgotten to buy it, that wasn't such a crime now, was it?

The Russian was back holding an object in his hand Rei couldn't clearly see but when his lover's face appeared right in front of him, he didn't care anyway. He was so hot at the moment, Kei could've oiled him with anything – as long as it wasn't spicy – he never wanted to repeat _that_ experience again!

"All right, where were we?" Kai asked with a smirk.

"Have you honestly forgotten?" Rei answered in a teasing way.

"Maybe, remind me." And then they were kissing again until Kai remembered that he had had something else planned for him as well and flung one of Rei's legs over his shoulder to get better access when two of his greased fingers were entering him.

"All right, now I want to know, what is it?"

Kai didn't give him an answer. Rei presumed that he was smirking again.

"No, honestly I want… ahhh …. I want to know."

"Do you remember Tala's present for my last birthday?"

Rei almost choked. "No way, I thought you threw everything away afterwards!" The whole pink basket with the many pink gruesome things Tala had thought to be a fabulous addition to a young couple's household.

"Not everything."

The Chinese recalled the image of the tube of lube he had seen in the basket as well. Pink and glittering all over and with a feather bound around the cap.

"That's…. ahhhh god! … that's really disgusting, Kai."

His boyfriend's fingers had never stopped working throughout the whole conversation and now he was even adding a third one. "Your own fault."

Yeah, yeah if he had bought the lube… hell, he couldn't really properly think about such nonsense right now. The friction Kai's fingers were causing inside of him felt much too good. He relaxed, letting himself sink into the feeling.

Kai was taking his time, stretching him thoroughly, switching between soft and harder movements just in the right combination and then he had finally found that one spot in him and was putting more pressure behind his actions and Rei's brain shut down. He bit on his lower lip to prevent himself from moaning too loud but after a moment he didn't care for that any longer and just let the noises stream out of his throat.

He retained some of his attentiveness when a deep, pleased chuckle was reaching his ear and then he listened closer to the sounds of his own pleasure. Well, if you had some imagination, really, really much imagination and had a fair obsession with a certain animal and… all right! He had to admit it - it sounded a bit like… purring.

He expected a comment about this any moment but amazingly enough Kai remained quiet about it; he removed his fingers which left Rei with a feeling of loss but the feeling was gone when the fingers were replaced with something else, something the Chinese liked even better to feel inside of him.

"You know… uhhh… that you're covered in the pink stuff as well now?"

Kai grunted with the effort it cost him to force himself to enter Rei slowly. Oh yeah, the Russian could be damn considerate if he wanted to be and it was mostly only Rei who got to see that side of him at all. The thought made him feel proud and happy.

"Shut up, Rei," his boyfriend barked but there was laughter hidden in his tone, and Rei closed his eyes grinning in delight.

They started out following a slower pace, teasing, probing, moving their hips in a steady, slow rhythm but it didn't stay like this between the two of them. Their characters, their personalities were much too fervent for that. Their pace quickened, their clashing of hips got harsher but it was what they both wanted, needed even. Kai's thrusts were hard and precise telling Rei about all his closed up feelings and the tension he had been suffering from because of their argument. The Chinese understood and dug his fingers into Kai's back, clinging to him tightly whilst savoring every second of their intimate struggle of emotions.

The black haired man came first over both of their stomachs and Kai followed only shortly after releasing himself inside of Rei with a loud moan. They remained intertwined for a long moment until Kai finally dislocated their bodies, grabbing for the tissues on the nightstand to clean them both up. It was good Kai was the one doing it; Rei didn't feel capable to move at the moment. He was totally drained but in a really good way. Tissues, he thought for a moment amused whilst watching his boyfriend, huh, really funny.

They were lying next to each other, still slightly panting and filled with an utter feeling of - contentment. At least this was the way Rei was feeling at the moment and he hoped for Kai it was something similar.

"So, would you say I won the bet?" The Russian's voice whispered right next to his ear. Of course – he should've known his boyfriend would demand some sort of confirmation even if he knew the answer to his question already – well, especially then.

Rei laughed and wiped his sweaty bangs out of his face. "I'm not quite sure yet, did it sound to you like I was purring?"

His lover smirked. "It did."

Rei turned his head, his eyes glistering with mischief. "But there's no way you could prove this, right?"

Kai drew a brow. "You want me to take it on camera the next time?"

The Chinese was grinning. "You think you actually manage that again?"

"Now you just admitted that I _did_ make you purr and for the record I could manage it again any time and place."

"Oh, there's someone getting a little full of himself, isn't he?" Rei teased.

"Hn. Just stating the facts here."

"_Your_ facts."

Kai blew in his ear. "Just accept it, Rei. You are like a kitten."

"The hell I am! If I'm kitten, then you're… then you're… oh, just leave me alone!" He said sulkily, faced away from his boyfriend and hauled the covers up to his nose. Now all he had to do was wait.

"… Rei?"

He just mumbled something incoherently in his pillow.

Kai's hand was placed on his shoulder. "C'mon, you're not really upset." He stated but there was the slightest, the slightest hint of doubt in his voice that probably only Rei would've been able to make out because he knew his boyfriend at least as well as he knew him – probably even better.

The Chinese remained silent, the cover hiding his small smile. Next thing was a poke to his cheek.

"You're smiling, Rei." The Russian said in an amused tone.

What…?! The Chinese set himself up abruptly, staring at his boyfriend. "How can you see that?!"

Kai's expression was self-satisfied. "I can't. It was just a guess, you're quite predictable sometimes."

"Predictable?!" He yelled. He wasn't predictable, or was he?

The Russian looked at him a bit warily but the glimmer of glee was still visible in his eyes. "Sometimes, just sometimes, Rei, and I didn't say that was a bad thing."

The Chinese almost puffed. "When am I predictable?"

"Well, you were it _right now_."

Rei narrowed his eyes. "How so?"

Kai sighed in annoyance. "I shouldn't have said it."

"Right, you shouldn't have but now it's too late. You said I'm predictable, that means that I'm boring. So, do I bore you, Kai?" His tone was biting.

The Russian's eyes widened a fraction. "I never said you were boring."

"Oh yes you did! You said it, you said I was boring! Well, if that's the case, I'm the one totally sorry now that I force you to waste away your precious time with someone that bores you to near death!" He spat at him, glaring.

Kai scowled. "No! Godamnnit, Rei! I never said you were boring, I don't think you are!" The Russian was yelling as well now looking completely furious. Everyone else probably would've started running in fear.

And Rei… wasn't able to hold himself together any longer and burst out laughing, he was laughing so hard that tears were springing to his eyes.

The Russian stared at him entirely baffled, his mouth slightly open. "… You were shitting me."

Rei wanted to answer but he was too busy trying to catch his breath again before suffocating.

That was enough time for Kai to recover somewhat. He smirked again, watching him with an intense gaze. "You sneaky little rat."

The Chinese wiped away the wetness in his eyes and then grinned at his boyfriend. "I'm a rat now? I thought I was a cat."

"Changed my mind, you're definitely a rat."

Rei draws a brow. "An unpredictable rat, I hope?"

Kai was sliding closer to him, his look fixed on him. "Oh yeah, quite unpredictable." And then Rei was flung down and a naked hot body was pressed against his skin again. "And now let me show you some of my unpredictability."

The black haired man just smiled. "Sorry to tell you, Hiwatari but this wasn't really un…"

He was cut off with a kiss.

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.

.

When Rei awoke, the sun was shining on his face through a gap in the curtains. He blinked and then noticed the lack of a certain source of warmth next to him – Kai wasn't there.

The Chinese rubbed his eyes and then got up, taking the covers with him around his hips as he walked slowly to the door.

"Kai?" He yelled his boyfriend's name questioningly.

"In the kitchen." Came the almost immediate retort. "Go take a shower, Rei, when you're done breakfast's ready."

Rei stood and blinked in wonderment. Wow, his boyfriend was making breakfast and not any breakfast if his nose didn't play any tricks on him – and it almost never did – Kai was making pancakes. It brought a smile to his face and a warm feeling spread through his whole body. The Russian _really_ was sorry because of their argument yesterday.

Feeling truly lighthearted for some _absolutely unbeknownst_ reason he did as told and went to take a quick shower. After that he dressed and walked to the kitchen, stopping to stand in the doorframe for a moment watching his lover place two glasses on the already set table.

Kai looked up, showing a small smile that made Rei's heart jump. "Morning."

"Morning. " He answered smiling back at him, stretching his body and making the last few steps into the room. "You cooked?"

"That's so amazing?" Kai asked with a totally neutral expression on his face.

"Of course not." Rei answered and the warmth he was feeling inside his body was shining out through his eyes. He sat down on his chair. "You didn't burn anything?" The teasing nature of his question was evident.

The Russian growled but it wasn't a serious one and sat down as well. "That was_ one_ time, Rei, and it wasn't even my fault."

"Yes, you said Tala was distracting you or something but you never told me the whole story." Rei leant on his hand having placed an elbow on the table, smiling lazily.

"And I won't." The Russian barked coldly.

Rei chuckled. He knew that Kai felt slightly embarrassed whenever Rei mentioned that topic – the whole kitchen had almost burned down that day - and he would've given a lot to hear the story behind that occurrence but neither Kai nor Tala ever talked about it. Rei had the slight suspicion that his boyfriend had threatened the redhead with a slow and painful death to ensure his silence. Tala normally wasn't the type to care for the predicaments of others.

The Chinese smiled even wider and shrugged. "That's fine." And then they both started eating and Rei complemented Kai for the good pancakes. Kai stared at his plate and grunted; that was as much as a thank you.

"By the way, why aren't you talking to each other anymore?" The tone was too casual for the Russian.

Rei looked up and stopped licking the syrup from his fork. "Huh?"

Kai suddenly looked as if he'd eaten something really acidic. "You and…_ her_."

Oh…OH! "You mean me and Mariah?"

The Russian scowled. Rei sighed inwardly, pondering the best way to proceed. "Do we need to talk about this right now?"

Kai went stiff. Bad, Rei, _bad_. "Kai…"

"No. It's fine, if you don't want to tell me then don't." The Russian stood up taking his plate with him to put it into the sink. Loudly.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you, okay?" Rei started in a placating tone. "I just didn't want to ruin our good mood."

"Hn." Kai said his back still turned to him.

Rei guessed that meant his mood was already ruined. "All right. I'll tell you. We're not talking to each other because Mariah was sticking her nose too far in my business again and this time I simply told her to shove off."

That made his boyfriend react and he was facing him again, lifting a brow. "You did?"

"I did."

Kai smirked. "Bet she didn't take it well."

Rei shook his head with the Russian's childish delight about this but it was a bit hard to suppress a grin himself. "Not exactly."

"So, what was she butting into this time?"

Damn. The Chinese had hoped Kai would be satisfied and not question any further; it seemed he was out of luck and he didn't want to lie. Kai would find out sooner or later anyway. "She was trying to give me advice; I really didn't want to hear."

That was enough to alert Kai. "She was bitching about me again."

"Yeah, well, you know her."

"Unfortunately. I still don't get why you haven't fired her yet."

That again. "She's Lee's sister, Kai."

The Russian gave him the 'So what' look.

"He's my partner, and I owe him a lot, I couldn't do it, even if I wanted to."

"Which you don't." He stared at him icily.

"She's not a bad worker, she brings a lot of customers and I know her since my early childhood days." Rei tried to explain his reasoning but he knew with Kai this was futile.

"Sure." He turned away again.

Rei was tempted to bang his head on the table. "Kai, I'm not putting her over you. We are not even talking right now _because_ of you. I literally yelled at her to shut up and get out of my face, what more do you want?"

"What did she say?"

"Uhm…"

"I want to know what she said." Kai repeated cold and stubbornly.

Well, if he wanted to hear it so badly, he could have that! "She said, she doesn't understand, why I should want to be together with a guy who isn't… well, who doesn't even have the…" He didn't want to say it but Kai had turned again, gazing him directly in the face daring him to try and just shut up now! Rei sighed. "Who doesn't even have the courage to come out in the open about us in front of his parents - but I know that's nonsense, Kai! I would never demand anything like that of you. All that matters to me is that you're here. I don't need your parents, or their friends, or any of these high class people to know that I exist. It's enough that you do."

Rei was completely honest when he spoke those words. Everything he'd said was true. He didn't care for all these people, especially after the horrid stories he'd heard from Brian and Tala and sometimes even from Kai himself. And Kai himself was all that mattered to him _only_ – ever would.

The Russian was silent for a long moment and somehow Rei felt bad for him and he got even angrier at Mariah and her big mouth and at himself, as well. He shouldn't have told his boyfriend after all.

"Kai… "

"It's all right, Rei."

"No, look… "

"I _said_ it's all right." His tone didn't allow any objections and Rei closed his mouth again staring at his empty plate feeling somehow hollow inside.

He saw Kai's shadow approach him on the ground but he expected his boyfriend to just walk over and out of the room. The Russian dealt with his problems mostly on his own and no matter how hard Rei tried to change that and give Kai the reassuring feeling that he was and would always be there for him – situations like this proved all too well that he hadn't succeeded so far.

His expectations turned out to be right and when Kai was gone he _did_ bang his head on the table.

.

.

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.

"Where are you going?" Kai had emerged back from his room and was now watching Rei slipping into his jacket.

The Chinese smiled at him, trying to read something in his face but he wasn't sure what to look for. "Just some grocery shopping before the store closes. The milk's empty and some other things are out, too."

Kai smirked his trademark smirk. "Milk, eh?"

Rei rolled his eyes playfully. "Yeah, milk for the cat, haha, I got it."

His boyfriend strode over to him. "Fine, and when you're back I have a surprise for you."

That made Rei's eyes go big. "Really? What is it?"

The Russian chuckled slightly an evil glimmer in his dark orbs. "Don't you know, Rei, that curiosity-"

"Killed the cat, yeah, yeah, haha, you're such a funny guy today, Kai."

Kai's face became more serious again and his eyes shone in sincerity. "Just come back soon. I'll be here."

Of course he would be here, where else? Rei could've said this but he understood what Kai was trying to tell him in his very own Kai-ish way, and his happiness returned as if a light had been switched on in his heart. "I'll hurry and it better be a good surprise."

The Russian smirked. "I only make good surprises."

Rei pointed at him. "I nail you down on that."

Suddenly Rei was hauled into an almost lip-smashing kiss. It was thrilling! Kai stepped away from him again. "Well, we'll see who'll be nailing who, Rei… but later."

A pleasant shiver was running along the Chinese back. "Heh, now I really make sure to hurry."

"You do that." The Russian answered, giving him a last predatory look that made his knees go weak, just to turn around then and walk straight back into his room – that tease!

.

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.

When Rei walked out on the street and breathed in the fresh air, he felt good inside. Things with Kai were lightening up again and he had a feeling with lots of patience and persistence someday he could get Kai to open up to him more. He knew that Kai wanted to, he just needed a push in the right direction and Rei would always gladly kick his ass if need be – and do lots of other stuff with his ass as well. He smiled widely whilst steadily walking forward. Yeah, things between him and Kai would turn out good in the end and Rei would give it his all to ensure this.

And then he thought about last night again and a stupid and even wider grin was spreading all over his face. Sex with Kai was just something so fucking, fucking great, especially because it wasn't just about sex but… well, it was more and when they both were together like this he could clearly feel it. He loved Kai, and even though the Russian had never said it to him with these precise words he was still sure that he felt the same for him. _'I'll be here'_ was Kai's promise, Kai's declaration of love and for the moment and for Rei that was enough.

Suddenly there was a yell. Someone was yelling his name but Rei wasn't sure at first who… oh, it was Kai! Definitely Kai's voice. Rei turned and looked up smiling happily, realizing for the first time that he was still standing in the middle of the street he had attempted to cross earlier, and then he also became aware of another noise then just Kai's voice and he saw an object, a big, dark thing in the corner of his eye but the moment his brain had received the information that a truck – a huge truck – was coming towards him it was already too late. His body moved thanks to his good reflexes but no reflexes in the world could've prevented him from getting hit. He was flung to the side violently and crashed into a hard thing, he wasn't sure what it was – maybe a wall but he had no possibility to either affirm or refute that for he couldn't _see._

He could still hear, though and he heard Kai. Kai yelling his name again and then he could also feel, also feel him but he couldn't move, couldn't open his eyes, or were they open? No, no it was too dark.

Kai was talking to him but he wasn't sure about the words he said. His name, his name and… other things… he was yelling at him to, to… not sleep? But he was tired and it was cold, despite the fact that there were arms around him, it was cold. He felt numb, so numb. He tried to speak, but his mouth wouldn't open and no words would come to him but there was Kai's voice, he sounded distressed about something. Was it so bad? He didn't even feel any pain, he wanted to tell Kai this; he was cold, only cold.

Kai's voice was getting softer, no it was dying away and for the first time Rei felt panic. Had Kai left him, had he… that couldn't be right, he would never do that but then… but then this meant... Kai's voice wasn't getting softer but he wasn't able to hear it any longer and he also couldn't feel his arms around him anymore. There was only the cold, the coldness surrounding him and there was nothing he could do about it, his body felt - broken and had no strength left, not even to formulate the words he desperately wanted to tell the man he couldn't even feel anymore.

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_And whilst his mind is slipping further away from him into the dark, Rei is praying and begging and hoping that maybe his friends are right and he really is like a cat because then he would wake up again to a world in which is Kai._

_But deep, deep down inside, he already knows he isn't a cat, he is just human. And humans only have one life to live, the same they have only one death to die._


	2. Chapter 2

I decided to continue this story after all, seems I just couldn't let him die...

Before anyone complains, I'm not a doctor and I made up his condition completely for this story and I'm not saying any of this could truly happen! It's fiction after all!

Warning for language and bad thoughts;-)

Thank you very much for the feedback!!

* * *

It was the irritating blond again – the one with the gentle blue eyes and the nervous habit of twitching his fingers when he felt somehow uncomfortable. How had he introduced himself yesterday – Max? So, where was the other one, the noisy one who always seemed to be chewing on something?

"Oh, you're awake again, h-how are you feeling?"

How he was feeling? Great, he was just feeling great. Who wouldn't feel great having woken up in a strange hospital room in an unfamiliar bed in complete loneliness, almost panicking when realizing that you had no recollection of what had happened to you as of –_ anything_ at all. Getting to hear from the doctor that you had been in a coma for over seven months after having had a forceful collision with a truck in which many of your bones were broken and that obviously also inflicted some damage to your brain – thus the memory loss. Maybe, if you were really lucky, everything would go back to normal; but you had to be _patient_ and give it _time_. As if there was anything else he could do…

"I'm fine." He restrained himself in the last moment from outright snapping at the blond guy who had told him he was one of his closer friends, but then again he could've told him anything; after all, he had no way to tell if it was right or wrong.

"That's good." The blond beamed but it appeared rather forced and his fingers were doing that twitching again. "Ah, what I wanted to tell you! I finally managed to get a hold of Lee and Mariah in China, they were so happy and excited to hear about the fantastic news and they're taking the next flight back! They will probably arrive sometime tomorrow morning!"

Oh joy. More people to come here who would almost jump him in delight and at least expect some greeting that indicated that he was happy about their appearance as well.

"That's my childhood friend and his sister, right?"

Max nodded with an enthusiasm he could hardly understand. "That's right, and he is also your working partner at the café, remember? And Mariah works there too."

"No, I don't remember." This time he couldn't suppress the bitterness in his voice.

The blond went red from head to toe; maybe if he'd been in a better mood the man in the hospital bed would have found it kind of amusing. Right now there was only annoyance.

"Ah, um, sorry for that, I didn't mean remember _remember_, just… because I already told you about them and the café, I didn't want to say that…"

The sight of Max's struggling was almost pitiful. It stirred more of his anger but somewhere he felt also sorry for his – _friend – _but most importantly he wanted him to shut up again. "Give me a break there. I know what you meant; just forget about it, all right?"

The blond showed a grateful smile whilst ruffling through his hair. "Uh sure, Rei, sorry again."

Rei. It was still more than odd hearing people call him that. It didn't mean anything to him. It was as if just nothing inside of him felt any attachment to this name. It was – almost meaningless. Rei. He could be anyone and no one at the same time. He didn't know that Rei, he had no idea who that was. Max and the other one – Tyson? Yeah, it was Tyson… they kept telling him things about that Rei and about things and people that Rei was supposed to know. But _he_ didn't.

Outside on the corridor could be heard rather fast (and loud) footsteps and only seconds after the door to the room was flung open. "Hey guys! You won't… you won't believe it but I just met a couple of reporters outside, they want to have an interview with Rei!"

The black haired man in the hospital bed frowned. "Why should they want that?"

Tyson, who was still panting from having run all the way up to the room, looked at him like he was a complete dweeb. Well, at the moment he probably even felt a bit that way – and didn't particularly like it.

"Man, you were in a freaking coma for what now? Eight months, was it? And the doctor said it's a miracle that you woke up again and that your injuries healed so well and everything, you could've become a cripple for all we knew or a mental retard but you'll be fine again, of course it'll take its time and all but we'll be there for you and…"

"TYSON!" The blond had tried to interrupt his babbling friend a couple of times during his speech but had only now managed to gain his attention with a desperate yell.

"What, Max?" The cap wearing man asked almost offended turning his head to the blond. "I was just trying to inform Rei that a lot of people have missed him. Oh yeah!" He averted his gaze back to the man in the bed. "Before I forget, you have a huuuge fanclub, Rei, that would be more than pleased to get to finally know that you're all awake and well again! You're quite famous in the sports world for your martial arts. I bet you're really looking forward to do that kind of stuff again, eh?"

The Chinese felt his fingers dig into the covers in an attempt to hold himself back from trying to jump up and throttle that guy in front of him. What the hell was he thinking? Did Tyson even have something that at least to some amount resembled a brain? Did the Chinese look to him like someone who would be interested in any of this crap at the moment? He could hardly move his arms and he hadn't been able to get up even once, though he had really wanted to but it was just no use yet!

"Tyson, leave Rei alone with this! Can't you tell that it's not the right time now? How can you be that insensitive?" Max seemed really enraged now.

"Insensitive?! Hey, I was just trying to cheer him up a bit, why are you making such a fuss? If Rei doesn't want to give an interview, he doesn't have to. It's not as if anybody would be able to get inside here who isn't permitted into the area. The whole hospital staff is much too afraid that Kai would have their heads if anyone disturbed our sleeping beauty, right?"

Had this guy just dared to call him a fucking sleeping beauty? And who the hell was Kai? He was sure he hadn't heard them mentioning that name before. "Who's Kai?"

Two pairs of shocked eyes suddenly turned to him. "Huh?"

The Chinese took a deep breath and tried to relax his stiff muscles. How had Rei managed to put up with people like this? He really had to admire the guy, somehow.

"I said," He repeated slowly to make sure even the dimwitted cap-wearer understood. "Who is Kai?"

"Oh, he's… hahaha, he's…" Tyson had started to answer the question just to interrupt himself with stupid laughter, sending a help-seeking gaze to his blond companion.

"He's a friend of ours." Max said a little too fast. "And of yours too, of course! I'm sure he's going to visit soon and then you can ask him about it yourself." The blonde's face appeared way too flushed yet again. Something was definitely going on.

"Yeah, I wonder what he's taking so long for … if his private jet ran out of gas he should've just taken another one, can't be too hard for him..." Tyson tried to whisper towards Max without letting Rei hear it, making it all the more obvious by holding a hand to the side of his mouth. But the Chinese had good ears, or Tyson was just especially bad at whispering – probably both.

"We agreed to not talk about it until we spoke to him first." The blond whispered back a bit more quietly – but still not nearly quietly enough - with a meaningful glance. Wow, another expert in not alerting others to a conversation with compromising content. The Chinese could've rolled his eyes – if his head hadn't already hurt so much. It was getting worse; he should ask the nurse for more painkillers.

"But he surely was the first to get informed, so why… HEY!"

"Ahhahah, Rei, please excuse us a moment, all right? We're back in a minute." With that the blond grabbed the cap-wearer around the wrist and hauled him after him when he hurried outside the door.

The Chinese stared after them speechlessly. That Rei _really_ was an admirable person…

.

.

The black haired man in the hospital bed gave the blond a patronizing look when he returned.

"Where's Tyson gone?"

Fingers were twitching. "Oh, his older brother called, he needs to make some errands for him. Family business, y'know?"

So, he wasn't a good liar either. Rei narrowed his eyes slightly. "Not exactly."

The blond was blushing all over again. "Ahhh, I'm sorry, Rei! I didn't mean to… I'm always talking without thinking… I shouldn't have said it. It's just everything is so strange at the moment and I still can't believe that you just forgot… that you don't remember us anymore... I'm sorry."

Max hung his head in shame and bit on his lower lip and the Chinese felt at least something like a small flash of sympathy. "Yeah, it's… strange, I guess. I'm not really comfortable with it either."

The blond looked up again meeting golden orbs with his gentle blue ones. "I know that. I'm sure it's even more difficult for you; I truly never wanted to give you the impression that I don't think that but you have to forgive Tyson for… how he behaves towards you, it's just his way of dealing with it. He tries to treat you as normal as possible because he believes that way things will go back to normal the fastest. It's kind of stupid but… he really missed you, we all did."

The sincerity in his eyes was evident but Rei didn't know how to react appropriately. It was… nice in a way, hearing it, but… if a complete stranger on the street told you he had missed you, would it be of any importance to you? Not that he had met Max on the street and he had already told him about himself so he wasn't a complete stranger… still, the difference was not all that big.

The Chinese looked to the side breaking their eye contact, he felt really tired again and his head was giving him a hard time.

"Are you all right?" The blond sounded concerned now.

"Yes, it's fine. I think I'll just go back to sleep for a while." If his head wasn't better afterwards he could still ask the hospital staff for a painkiller.

"Ah, sure, sure. I'm not going to bother you any longer then. We'll just come back later if that's okay with you?"

Rei simply nodded feeling his eyelids already fall shut. Whatever. "Yeah, sure, later."

.

.

"See! I said he would be waking up soon!"

The Chinese blinked his eyes, rather disorientated. It took him a moment to remember where he was. Ah, the hospital. And that disturbing voice… oh yes, the one called Tyson. Figured.

"Ouch! What was that for, Hiro?!"

"Tyson! He's only awake because you deliberately kept on yelling around so that he just had to wake up!" The blond guy - Max - was glaring at his normally cap-wearing friend who had taken said thing off for a moment to rub a place on his head.

"That's not true, Max! I didn't yell but I'm just not good at being quiet all the time!"

"You're not good at being quiet _any_ time."

Rei didn't know that voice and the person that belonged to the voice for the matter but in a way when he looked at him more closely, he slightly resembled the cap-wearer. He was just bigger and – obviously a lot more mature – but there was no real trick to _that_… So maybe, yes, that had to be his older brother. And the little plague had also yelled his name before…

"You're Hiro?"

Before the older man was able to at least attempt to open his mouth, Tyson beat him to it. "Ahh! You remember him?! Don't tell me you remember him! You didn't even remember _me_, so you can't possibly-"

A hand laid itself over the noisy man's mouth. "Calm down, Tyson. He didn't remember me, he just heard you call out my name after I hit you, isn't that right?" Hiro looked at the Chinese expectantly, showing an honest smile.

The black haired man was just glad that he had managed to shut his brother up again. If his headache would return because of all the yelling, he would kick Tyson's ass for it. Well, as soon as he'd be able to move his legs – just one leg would already be enough - properly. "Yeah, I heard it."

"I'm really sorry that we interrupted your sleep so rudely. I should've kept my little brother better in check. I really wonder when he's finally going to grow up a bit."

Tyson freed himself of Hiro's grip. "Hey! Don't talk about me like I'm not present here as well!

His brother just ignored him, giving Rei his full attention, which made Tyson stalk over to Max mumbling sulkily. It made him feel uneasy in a way. He wasn't used to it. Or if he was, he couldn't remem… yeah, same old story.

"We are all really glad you woke up again. I know it must be really strange for you, not being able to remember us at the moment but we're all confident that this condition will change soon and we will all do our best to help you as much as possible."

"Damn straight we will!"

God, did this guy really never shut up?

"… Rei?"

Another voice. Coming somewhere close by the open door. He turned his head to look that way. A man had just walked into the room. A young man – probably somewhere around his age, what had they told him, twenty -three? – clothed in a black suit. The Chinese wasn't sure but in a way it looked really expensive but he had no time to concern himself with that for long for his eyes were instantly drawn to the man's face. He didn't seem to be American and he was rather good looking with dark, slightly odd colored eyes and a well-defined jaw line. His also dark somewhat grayish hair looked a bit ruffled, like he'd been in a rush, but his suit showed no sign of wrinkles, so Rei wasn't sure.

The man was staring at him with a strange gaze he couldn't really fathom but something incredibly urgent seemed to stand in his eyes, a question that needed to be answered and something like – maybe a plea? He wasn't sure what to make of it. Somehow he felt really intimidated by that person and the eyes that were staring him down, making him feel more weak and pathetic than the first time these kinds of thoughts had overwhelmed him, shortly after he had just woken up from his coma.

"Ah yes, that's supposed to be me, right?" He made a lame attempt of a joke, born out of his uneasiness that was certainly not really funny or especially creative and in some way not really a joke at all. Because yes, he was supposed to be Rei – obviously – but since he didn't even know who that was, acting the part was more than a little hard to do.

And then something bizarre happened. The expression on the man's face changed completely. It was almost as if it was masked up forcefully until it showed no single tiny emotion at all anymore, just his eyes, Rei thought, his eyes were betraying him in a way; they were clouded over with something, a certain gleam, something like, was it… abhorrence? And then the man turned and walked out again. Just like that and all Rei could do was gawk at his retreating back, rather dumbstruck.

"KAI! Kai, where are you going?! Wait!" Tyson rushed out and after him.

"Uh, I think I better go too. Max, you stay here with Rei, okay?" Hiro just waited for Max to make a small sign of confirmation with his head then he was already following his brother and the other man.

"What was that?" Rei averted his questioning eyes to the blond.

Max almost cringed under his intense gaze. "Well, that was… Kai."

Oh really? That he knew already thanks to Tyson's fabulous performance, thank you very much. "Uh huh and what exactly is his problem?" Seriously now, what kind of behavior was that? Just storming out without saying a single thing anymore? After all, what had that Kai guy expected him to do? Jump out of his bed and hug him whilst starting to cry? And that expression he had showed in the end, so cold and stony and somehow… disgusted. Was he disgusted with him? And this person was a friend of Rei's? Honestly?

"H-his problem?" Oh yes, fingers were studiously twitching again, a seemingly uncomfortable topic for the blond indeed. "I guess he was just a bit, well you see, he probably hadn't expected… I mean he… ah don't worry, Rei, he's going to calm down again, just give him a little time."

Oh, he wasn't worried, not in the least. He hadn't done a thing to provoke such an extreme reaction. It wasn't his damn fault that he couldn't remember and then again maybe some people weren't worth remembering anyway. "You mean pulling that kind of thing is normal for him?"

The blond changed his weight from one foot to the other. "I wouldn't say normal but sometimes Kai can be a bit…"

"Crackbrained?" Rei suggested helpfully with a sardonic undertone. It was a good thing that he at least remembered how to use the English language by now; right after his awakening even that had caused him trouble, and he had spoken – for everyone else - incoherent things in Chinese.

"Rei! Don't say something like that, you don't mean it. Kai was just disturbed; he probably couldn't believe that it's really true."

He didn't mean it? Were they at a point now where others told him the things he did and did not mean, just because they knew that Rei better than him? He wasn't sure if he liked that. No, he was sure he didn't like it at all.

.

.

It was clear he didn't want to be here, so it was a mystery for Rei to explain why the guy had even bothered to return in the first place. He didn't look like anyone who could be forced to do something he didn't want to, and the Chinese seriously doubted Tyson possessed any sense for a convincing speech. So it either had to be Hiro or that guy had another reason for having let himself get dragged back to the room. Maybe they had bribed him with something?

Be it as it may, the guy – Kai –was leaning against the wall next to the window for almost twenty minutes by now with crossed arms and closed eyes, only giving some kind of indication that he hadn't fallen asleep when he was directly spoken to and the answer he gave then was something that sounded like a mere 'Hn' most of the time. Rei was more than a little irritated.

But in the end he had just decided to ignore it for now. Why should he get worked up about a guy he didn't know who behaved like a complete dork towards him? Well, not only him, he wasn't exactly social to his other _friends_, either.

Talking, well rather thinking about them, they were keeping the Chinese quite busy with telling him stories about this and that, and sometimes he really had problems catching up with Tyson's machine gun rambling but he'd tried to listen to him anyway; that was until he felt a certain sleepiness crawl up his body again and the voices were fading more and more into the background - even the one of the cap-wearer.

"Yes, and then we went to that gigantic shopping mall! It was totally fun, right guys? Of course, Kai didn't want to come along at first but you were whining at him and he finally agreed."

"Rei was not the one whining." Max gave his friend a chiding look. "You were because you were hungry again."

"Ah, you're just jealous because I can eat more than any of you guys can." Tyson grinned almost triumphantly. His brother Hiro drew an eyebrow.

"Yes, eating more you can, but paying the bill for it - that's another story, right?"

Tyson jerked to the side to glare at Hiro. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean? Of course I can pay my own bills! I even invited you to lunch a couple of weeks ago!"

"You invited me, that's right, but conveniently for you, you left your wallet at home, remember? You still haven't paid me back, by the way."

Rei had to smile a bit at that, though he was only able to watch the interaction of the two brothers through half-lidded eyes. He felt utterly drained without even having done much. Just some talking and listening. Oh, and he had lifted a glass of water earlier. That had to be it.

"Yeah, yeah, you're getting your damn money. Gee, what a nitpicker, and all right, maybe Rei wasn't the one whining but he has completely different possibilities keeping in mind that Kai is his… "

"Roommate." Someone barked from near the window.

All right. Now the Chinese's eyes were wide open again. "You are my roommate?" He had a roommate? And a roommate like _Kai_?

For a moment, just a moment the man in the suit was meeting his eyes openly but then his face contorted into something like a scowl. Rei wondered what he had done now. Maybe the guy was pissed that he had woken up again because when he was released from the hospital he had to share his living space? He wasn't going to murder him beforehand, was he?

"Is that a problem for you?" Oh damn, maybe he was!

The Chinese narrowed his eyes slightly. Did he really have to put up with that attitude? No, he didn't! Maybe Rei had been some kind of pussy, letting himself get bullied around but _he_ wouldn't have that!

"Hehe, of course it's no problem, right Rei? I bet you're even relieved now? I mean, Kai can show you around at your place and look after you as soon as you're out of the hospital, so that it will become even easier for you to find your way around." The blond tried to suggest carefully.

Oh yes, how damn relieved he was all of a sudden! So relieved that his head started to hurt again just to show him how damn relieved he was.

"Yeah, you can do that, right Kai?" Tyson. Of course he just had to add something in. Strange enough that it had taken so long but then again, his brother had whispered something in his ear whilst covering his mouth with a palm again only moments earlier – and Hiro was good at whispering, the Chinese had to give him that - so, maybe this was the reason. Most definitely.

The crossed arm guy also known as Kai looked to the side away from them. "Hn."

Was that a yes now or a no? Either way, the prospect wasn't really appealing to Rei. He didn't want to be alone in a new place with new things without knowing what to do with himself but he also didn't want to be stuck with a person that seemed to have something against him from the very beginning. Or in other words, he didn't want to be left alone with Kai. At least not for a time span of more than ten seconds.

It was all getting a bit too much for him right now.

"All right guys, now that that's settled let's leave Rei alone for a while, he needs to rest to recover more quickly." Tyson's brother was gold, why couldn't he be his roommate instead?

.

.

The next morning went by more than a little blurry. The doctor was there again, talking to him about future procedures to strengthen his bodily abilities whilst doing the usual checkups –yes, it was still normal that his memory wasn't back, he shouldn't become impatient, he stood only at the beginning of his recovery - and shortly afterwards his personal nurse came to attend to his needs. Throughout the whole time Rei was barely awake. He still felt exhausted, even more so than the day before and after he had gotten some pills for his head, he was just glad when he was allowed to go back to sleep for a few more hours.

When he opened his eyes for the second time that day, he noticed immediately that he wasn't alone in the room. A figure stood next to the window with crossed arms and downward pointing head. He didn't wear the suit any longer; his clothes appeared to be more casual now – jeans, a red shirt with a black pattern on it, a dark jacket and leather shoes – they still looked kind of expensive. Not that Rei really had any experience to properly judge that, it was just… a feeling.

Rei sat up a bit and wiped the sleep out of his eyes whilst waiting for the other to say something or at least even look at him – which he didn't.

Oh my. The Chinese sighed inwardly; he had a feeling this was going to become strenuous somehow. "So, came to murder me whilst everyone is away?"

At that the other man's gaze shot up as if he'd been seriously startled. The man in the hospital bed drew a single eyebrow. Wow, that had been a bit unexpected; obviously Kai had really been deep in thought and not realized that the Chinese had woken up. "Rei?"

Here they went again. "Uh, well, I could say something to that but chances are big you wouldn't like it again."

Kai's posture changed at the words and his body went somewhat stiff, though he didn't move from his place at the wall. "Hn."

Rei let his head sink deeper into his pillow and closed his eyes for a short moment. He felt a bit dizzy. "Okay, what do you want?"

"Want?" The voice of the other man sounded slightly aggravated already. It seemed whatever the Chinese did or said, it was always wrong with him. Good that he didn't particularly care.

"Maybe I can't remember all that much at the moment but that doesn't mean I'm stupid, all right? It's obvious that you don't like me, so you have to have a reason for coming here before loudmouth and the finger twitch guy arrive. What is it? Do I owe you money or something?"

Weird enough Kai showed a smirk on his face. "Loudmouth and the finger twitch guy?"

Rei shrugged. That was how he had titled them within his head before he had been able to keep their names. At the beginning he had forgotten things quickly even after just having heard them, he was more than glad this phase seemed to be over. But he didn't see the need to justify himself, not in front of the ex-suit-wearer anyway.

"So what?"

Kai shook his head. "Nothing."

Fine, he didn't need to tell him. "Well?"

The man that leaned against the wall just gave him a questioning look. Now it was Rei who started to feel slightly agitated. "You still need to inform me what you're here for or are you just going to stand over there saying nothing? Not that I have a problem with that or anything." His tone was slightly biting but this guy really had that _certain_ air around him.

Kai's eyes narrowed slightly. "You seemed to have no problem with the others visiting you." He snapped at Rei almost accusingly.

Was he serious? "Yeah but they'd appeared to be happy that I'd woken up again." Rei said dryly and met his gaze unimpressed.

The glare the man at the wall was directing at him now was burning. He opened his mouth then closed it again and then stared at the floor. When he looked up again his face was composed. Scary, Rei thought, had he trained that a lot?

"I didn't mean to leave the impression that I had wanted you to not wake up. I did."

Well, that wasn't exactly a declaration of love, but from what Rei had learned about Kai so far it probably had cost him some. He didn't feel like arguing anyway, where was the sense in that?

"You're not American like the other guys, are you?"

The complete change of topic seemed to slightly surprise Kai but he got over it quickly. "No." And then as if just remembering that maybe he could say even a bit more than that he added, "I'm Russian."

Rei gazed at him a bit more intensely now. "You have strange eyes." It had just slipped out. Well, he had wanted to ask Kai about the odd crimson shimmer inside of them but not like that and he also already knew why.

It brought him a scowl again. "Your eyes are not exactly normal either."

The Chinese decided to not let himself get provoked. "Yeah, well, when I'd looked into a mirror for the first time, I was a bit shocked myself." He shrugged. "I guess I'll get used to it."

Kai was staring at him, then he looked to the side. "They're not so bad."

Huh? Was the guy trying to be friendly now? He should at least honor the effort somehow, right? Though he had no idea why he even wanted to. "Yours are not so bad either." Was it just him or had that been a bit awkward?

"Hn."

So good so far. What now? "How long have I known you?" Better how long had Rei known him, but the Chinese had a feeling if he formulated it like this it would lead to unwanted discussions yet again and hopefully he would remember soon anyway. Because then he _would_ be Rei.

"What does it matter." Not a question, a statement.

Rei shrugged. Hell, this really wasn't worth it. "I thought it was a good question to ask, if not then not."

"Hn."

"You know, you're kind of…"

Loud footsteps again. Quick and determined and somehow it really didn't sound like Tyson at all. "ReiRei!" The door was pushed open with a yell, and the Chinese had barely time to register that a girl had entered when faster than he could open his mouth there were two arms flung around his neck and a living (pink?) bundle was almost lying completely on top of him. Crying. He was too shocked to even move.

A man with features a bit similar to his own and then again completely different stepped inside only moments after and his eyes widened at the scene before him.

"Mariah! Get off of him, you could be hurting Rei!"

The bundle in his arms stopped sobbing and froze for a split second than it hopped up again. "Oh ReiRei, I'm so sorry! Is Lee right? Did I hurt you? I was just so glad to see you again, are you alright?"  
The girl was standing next to his bed now looking at him with big watery eyes, chewing on her lower lip as if waiting to be chided.

The girl and the older man had both spoken Chinese. So those were Lee and Mariah, eh? Blast! "It's _fine_." He said in a rather strained tone. Because no, damn, it wasn't. She had almost knocked the air out of him with her sudden assault and his bones really weren't fit to support any weight but his own at the moment. Who did something like that anyway? Storming into the room of a recently awoken coma patient, throwing yourself on him? Well, Tyson had,_ almost_ if Max hadn't nearly wrestled him down beforehand. Rei had been quite shocked then as well but he had been too out of it to register anything properly; this time he was fully conscious and there was another thing - why did she dye her hair in such an odd color?

"No, it's not. You don't storm into the room of an injured man and throw yourself on him, Mariah! No matter how glad you are to see him and… we are more than glad, Rei." Fascinating, at least this Lee person seemed to have some brains. And he was a childhood friend? Good, there was still some hope left for this Rei.

"When Max called us we almost couldn't believe it but of course we… "

"You!" His sister's enraged yell had interrupted Lee's sentence. "What are you doing here?!" She was talking in English all of a sudden.

All eyes turned to the person who was still standing at his spot leaning against the wall, glaring with pure iciness in his dark orbs at the girl that pointed a finger at him.

"Why shouldn't Kai be here, Mariah? He has the same right as you do." Lee's voice (he had switched to talking English now as well) had a dangerous edge to it but his sister seemed to just ignore that.

"But he's the one responsible for all this!"

Kai froze and then barked one single sentence. "Get her out."

The Russian spoke in a low voice and looked as if he was ready to murder and for a moment Rei really thought that was going happen next, but Lee grabbed his sister's arm and pushed her to the door, obviously quite angry himself. "I'm sorry for this, Rei. We'll visit again after I had a word with the little Miss here and if she doesn't behave then _I'm going to leave her at home_."

"What?! You can't do that! I want to see Rei too! I want…"

Wow, the putting a hand over the mouth thing seemed to be quite common between siblings. Lee stopped in the doorframe for a moment, looking at Rei with sincere eyes. "It's really good to see you awake." Then he and his sister were gone again, but not the tension they had left behind in the room.

Kai was responsible for all this? Why had she said that? The Russian still hadn't moved but his fists were balled and his whole posture screamed danger. Rei continued just looking at him not sure what to say.

"What?!" He barked at him all of a sudden and Rei's golden eyes widened slightly before they narrowed again. He said it earlier - he didn't know about Rei - but he was no pussy, he wouldn't have that!

"Don't take this out on me, okay?! You're obviously mad at her!"

The Russian looked at him in an almost sadistic manner. "So, you would be okay with it if I punched her?"

"If you want to go to prison so badly." He shrugged. "Why should that bother me?"

Now Kai moved and he moved _towards_ Rei. Fine, he was no pussy but momentarily he was in a very bad state so if the Russian would decide to pummel him instead - for a fact there wouldn't be much he could do about it. Don't show it, he thought, don't show how weak you really feel. He held Kai's gaze even if it was hard.

The Russian stopped in front of his bed. "You're right, why should that bother you?" Kai's tone was bitter and biting, and so much aggression was hidden underneath that for a moment Rei really feared to get a punch in the face but then… Kai just turned and walked to the door.

The Chinese almost breathed out in relief but he didn't feel quite safe just yet.

Before completely leaving the room the Russian's gaze wandered back to him once more and a cruel smirk was showing itself on Kai's lips. "Maybe this was your girlfriend, ever thought about that?" With that said he was gone as well.

And Rei was left staring after him yet again, with eyes bigger than plates.

.

.

"And this Kenny, he's going to talk to me through that thing?" Rei inquired looking at the mechanical device in front of him skeptically. What was the correct name for it? He had a feeling he knew. How so, he wasn't able to explain. It was like the thing with the spoon. He had simply known that a spoon was a spoon and how to use it, but on the other hand he hadn't been able to remember anything about himself, his family, his friends – well, pretty much his whole life in general up until now. But there were still things he did remember, basic things, like that you should wash your hands after you had gone to the toilet (not that that was a thing that concerned him much at the moment) and most terms of the language he used, even if sometimes he had to search a while for the right word. It was all quite ridiculous really and the drivel of the doctor didn't do much to make it any easier for him, either. He didn't care why or why he couldn't remember this or that, all he wanted was to remember – _everything_.

"Yeah, Kenny's gonna talk to you over satellite using the webcams on the laptops." Max explained the process to him.

Oh, yes, _laptop,_ that was it.

"See, you just click on that button and then it's going to connect. Ah! Hello Kenny!" The blond who was sitting on the edge of Rei's bed beside him was waving to the screen where a man was showing now with brown unruly hair and extremely long bangs that hung deep in his face and covered most of his eyes.

"Hey, Max, Rei…"

Why had he stopped talking… was…? What? Was that guy crying now? Oh my god, he was! Not that the loudmouth and the finger twitch guy (and the girl but he wouldn't, _wouldn't _think about her right now) hadn't done that, but… as he'd stated earlier he'd been still a bit out back then. The Chinese stared blinking at the screen before him, not really sure what to do.

"Um… Hi, Kenny." He tried.

"Oh, Rei!" The young man sobbed and laughed at the same time. Difficult? Yeah, sure, but somehow the guy managed. "It's so good to talk to you again! I never… I mean, oh Rei, I'm so sorry I'm not there in person right now! I feel so bad, honestly, I should take the next flight back. I'm really a lousy friend, aren't I?"

Wow, that Kenny appeared to be really unhappy but what was Rei supposed to say now? Uh, actually, I don't really care if you're here or not. Or better, please don't come I can't stand all this crying around me when I have no idea who you are in the first place.

"No, it's okay, really. The other guys told me about your project. That's your big chance, right? You waited a long time for it, so please don't feel bad. I'm sure we have a lot of chances to talk in the future and most of the time I still sleep anyway so it's not necessary for you to come all the way from Australia."

Had that been convincing enough? Hopefully. He really didn't need another person fussing over him. It was beginning to get stressful instead of offering him some sort of relief.

"Are you sure, Rei? I mean it's true that we have a lot of work with our project here right now but… I don't want you to think that it's more important to me than you! That's not the case! If you want me to come I'll be there in an instant!"

Oh hell. The Chinese was close to rolling his eyes. Why were all of Rei's friends so overdramatically emotional? Sure they cared, and seven months were a long time but… didn't they understand how nasty that was for him? They always expected him to act and talk in a certain way, be somehow soothing and friendly. Didn't they see that it was just an act? He didn't know these people; he didn't remember the connection they'd shared. For him they were strangers and he had enough problems to deal with already, he couldn't solve their inner troubles for them as well.

He was still forced to spend another ten minutes or so reassuring Kenny that yes, it was really okay for him to first finish his project in Australia. Rei hadn't really understood what it was about when Tyson and Max had explained it to him earlier, but since he didn't want the cap-wearer to try and be helpful by explaining it over and over again, he had just shut up about it and nodded. Kenny still had his doubts and wanted to come but finally Max jumped in to aid Rei and together they managed to convince him.

When the blond finally switched off the laptop and stashed it in its bag again, the Chinese could relax at last. Hopefully that was it with getting to know Rei's closer friends for a while. He had to concentrate on advancing his motor activity and regaining his memories, not thinking all the time about how to behave to not affront Rei's associates.

"Oh damn! You're already done with talking to Kenny, are you?! I really wanted to be here as well!"

Relaxing? Yeah, right. There was nothing like relaxing when Tyson was somewhere around the corner. Sad enough, there wasn't even a corner here.

"Why? You can phone him any time you want to." The blond pointed out.

"Yeah, but I wanted to see Rei's face when he first saw him! After all it could've been possible that he remembered something, right? Say, Rei, do you remember anything yet?"

'Say, Rei, do you remember anything yet?' Tch, what a chunk.

"Tyson! We told you to not pressure Rei, if he remembers something I'm sure he's going to let us know."

"But…"

"No buts! Behave, or do I need to tell your brother?"

The cap-wearer's eyes widened and he looked really offended. "You wouldn't dare, Maxie!"

The blond crossed his arms over his chest. "Call me Maxie one more time and you're going to find out!"

Tyson had crossed his arms now as well and both men were glaring at each other.

"I want to ask you something." Rei's voice cut through the silence, surprising them.

"Huh?" The cap-wearer merely gave an unintelligent sound.

"Sure, Rei, what do you want to ask about?" Max was a bit quicker in the upstairs department.

"About my accident. Can you tell me... How exactly did it happen?"

Max opened his mouth but as so often he was beat to say something. "But I thought they told you, you got hit by a truck, Rei!" Tyson's arms were swung in front of his body to hint at the fact that it hadn't been exactly a small one either.

The Chinese had to force himself to stay calm. "I know that. What I mean is how? Why didn't I see the truck? Were any of you guys there when it happened?"

Tyson and Max shared a look again. Inwardly the Chinese frowned.

"Kai was there, he saw how it happened and he came with you to the hospital afterwards." The blond answered his question but Rei's eyes didn't escape the twitching of his fingers.

Kai? The _'so, you would be okay with it if I punched her'_ Kai? Wasn't that fantastic news? "But you don't know anything more concrete?"

Max shook his head slowly.

"Ah, but that's just Kai, he doesn't talk much, right? So it's really no wonder we don't know the details but hey, what does it matter now? You're good again, Rei! And in time you will regain your memories and everything will go back to normal! You should concentrate on that now instead of thinking about this stupid accident!"

Tyson's encouraging speech was anything but. Things would go back to normal? Maybe they would, if he _could_ remember and if not? What then? The doctor had said it was very much likely that he wouldn't be able to get back all of his memories even if he'd also made clear that it was way too early at the moment to give any realistic prognosis. He should try to stay optimistic but at the same time not expect too much at once. He should recover and learn how to walk again first, his mind would make progress in its own pace but he could be happy, after all he had so many friends that cared about him and were there for him, trying to help in any way possible. 'Great', the Chinese had wanted to sneer, 'but they are Rei's friends, not mine'; instead he had just nodded. No use explaining what he truly felt, he was sure no one would care for _that_ to hear.

.

.

"Do you feel up to another visitor, today?" A deep voice interrupted Rei in his thoughts and made him sit up further in his bed. "Sorry, the door was open." He was spoken to in Chinese again.

The man with the almost golden eyes nodded, licking over his dry lips. "Yeah, Max left it open when he'd chased after Tyson."

The childhood friend drew an eyebrow. "He chased him?"

"Uh huh, something about being called Maxie again, I think." He wasn't sure, at one point he had stopped listening to their childish banter.

Lee shook his head whilst closing the door behind him. "Those two are loonies."

That elicited one of Rei's rare smiles. "Wouldn't object to that."

The other Chinese man shrugged. "No one would. "

Lee was simply staring at him then until he noticed what he was doing and looked to the side to hide his embarrassment. Somehow Rei found it amusing.

"Don't worry, I get that a lot. Maybe I should start demanding money for it."

Lee snorted. "Don't get cocky. We all had just been told that it was more than improbable for you to ever wake up again."

Hey! What was this guy trying to do here? Rei frowned. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"No, it's simply the truth… but I always knew the doctors were talking nonsense. You're much too strong to be defeated by a mere coma. You were always strong."

Rei was tempted to make a snappy comment again but something in Lee's eyes held him back. The guy really believed what he'd said. It was making him feel uncomfortable but he had no way to explain it. It was just… a strange atmosphere was spreading between them somehow.

"Where's… the girl?" Had he actually forgotten the name? No, he hadn't. It was something with 'A', right?

"Mariah? Yes, I thought it to be better to let her cool down again first. She can come and apologize in a few days."

Damn, yes, Mariah. Well, at least it had an '_a'_ as a second letter.

All right. Now was his chance to learn more about the incident from earlier and… about the thing with the _girlfriend_. No, he didn't need to ask about that! The Russian asshole had just tried to mock him, it couldn't actually be that this girl… but what if…? No! Absolutely not!

"So… she and Kai have a problem with each other?"

Lee regarded him with a long intense look. "Well, I guess you could say that but it's a rather old story between the two of them, they've never gotten along very well."

Ah… "Why's that?"

Was it just him or did the man standing in front of him appear to be a little reluctant to answer the question?

"They are both strong willed individuals with a habit to insist on their own view of things only."

_Right_. That told him as good as nothing at all but obviously that was exactly what Lee had wanted but he wasn't willing to give up just yet.

"Earlier when you were here, why had she said it was all Kai's fault?"

The childhood friend's eyes darkened. "Forget about that, it was stupid and inappropriate."

"But she must have had a reason…"

"Rei, it's not easy to explain that issue without going into much greater detail and I'm really not sure this is the best content to fill our conversation with right now. In time you will come to understand these things on your own and your questions will be answered."

Somehow that statement made him feel pissed. "That's kind of self-righteous of you to decide what I should and shouldn't talk about, don't you think?"

Lee smirked at that. "I've talked to your doctor just earlier; he said it could be a good thing to start with telling you stories about your early childhood days. So, what do you say, are you interested in hearing some things about the way we grew up together?"

So that was the bait he was supposed to catch on to agree on not insisting on talking about Mariah and Kai any longer? It was an alluring bait, he had to admit. How he'd grown up? Maybe information about this would really assist in triggering a memory. It wouldn't hurt to try, would it? After all, nothing the other guys had told him so far had helped him to remember. Not a thing. He sighed falling back into his pillow.

"All right, I'll listen."

.

.

"Maybe we should stop for today? You seem to be rather tired?"

Oh yeah he was tired or even better - _frustrated_. He had really hoped that… Damn! What did it matter? What did it matter to know that Rei grew up in a small village in China, that his parents died early in a fire and he lived with his grandfather (who had taught him martial arts) who had also passed away four years ago? What did it matter to hear that Rei was a lively child who loved to run and saved Mariah when she was little from drowning in the lake? What did it matter to learn that Rei had built a fortress with Lee in the forest and quarreled with the children of the neighbor village even if they'd been a lot bigger and older than Rei? When all of that stirred absolutely nothing inside of _him_? No single memory, no single emotion. It was like listening to fairy tales. Sometimes interesting fairy tales but other than that… he felt no connection to them at all. It was all… so utterly useless.

"Yeah, I'm tired. Thanks anyway for trying."

Lee stood up from his chair and looked at him. "No need to thank me, what are friends there for if not helping each other in times like this. You can count on me; I want you to always know that."

All the man in the hospital bed could do was nod.

"Besides, it would be stupid of me to not try anything in my power to make you able to work again at the café as soon as possible. With your famous return you would attract double the amount of customers than usual." Lee said with a sneaky gaze.

He almost gaped watching the childhood friend striding over to the door. Well, wasn't that blunt? "And I really miss my partner. Get better Rei, I'll come by again tomorrow."

Strange friends that Rei had, the Chinese thought again, really strange friends.

.

.

The pain in his head was so extraordinary that it had made him nauseous and he had puked throughout the whole night even when there had been nothing left in his stomach to come out anymore. Luckily, at first, the pain had also been that strong that he hadn't had much time to think about it but now that the medications he'd gotten finally kicked in, he was really - disgusted. With himself and the whole situation. It was pathetic to feel that weak. That he couldn't tend to his own needs yet, that he needed people and hospital staff to fuss around him the whole time.

The physiotherapist had already started doing some minor practices with him but the success of this hadn't shown so far. And the doctor still told him he had to be patient after an accident like Rei's, waking up again without having major damages to his body and brain functions was already a miracle, he couldn't expect another one and be able to walk again from one day to the next.

Hell, he didn't want another miracle but he wanted his memories back so that the people that visited him every day trying to cheer him up or just provide some company were more than just that – _people_. And he wanted, no needed, to remember again who_ he_ was. Who was Rei? How was Rei? The real one, not just the one he had heard about in stories but the one that used to reside in his head?

And he wanted to be able to do things on his own again! It was degrading having to rely on the nurses all the time – sure, they were friendly and it was their job to help him and they were used to it but to him it felt – just so utterly, utterly wrong. The first days it hadn't troubled him much, but he'd been rather numb back then and so unbelievably tired all the time that things had just went the way they had. Now he was there, really there and – he just wasn't content with this anymore. He wanted to remember, he wanted to walk and he wanted out of this damn hospital!

"You look pissed." The Russian stated nonchalantly after having entered the room. Rei was surprised; he hadn't seen the guy since his pompous departure three days ago. He hadn't thought he'd come back. Or had he just hoped he wouldn't?

"And you would know a lot about that, right?" Rei didn't care if that sounded aggressive or not.

Kai continued to walk calmly over to his spot on the wall next to the window. "It's not common modesty to answer a question with a counter question, Kon."

Whoa! What an… and why the hell did he call him Kon now? "You're one to talk about common modesty. That whole standing around with closed eyes whilst others are talking - that's more than impolite." He would have used the Russian's surname also but truth be told – he didn't know it. Why had he never asked? Why should he have asked?!

Kai crossed his arms looking at him blankly. "Hn."

The Chinese felt his face heat up in anger. "And that! That 'Hn', what is that supposed to mean? Is it a yes, a no, is anyone even ever able to tell?!"

The Russian narrowed his eyes slightly. "There was someone."

Oh great, Rei thought. There was someone. One whole person who understood Neanderthal man-ish. But why _was_? Had that person run away from the Russian? If so it wouldn't surprise him much. Maybe he was talking about his ex-girlfriend or something.

"So, you keep having headaches."

This time it wasn't even a question, so Rei couldn't be accused of answering it with a counter question again. "Well, I don't think it's that unusual when you got hit by a truck and crashed into some wall, do you?"

"Hn."

That moment Rei became aware again of what Max and Tyson had told him. If he wanted to know anything more concrete about his accident he had to ask – _Kai_.

"They said you were there when it happened, right? Can you… I mean, was it my fault?" Had he really been so stupid as to just stand around and wait for a truck to sweep him off his feet?

The Russian's face darkened as if a bunch of thunderclouds were momentarily floating over his head. "Why? You want to also imply it had something to do with me?"

Rei's eyes widened. WHAT? "Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Listened to her little stories? Found it believable that the big, bad Kai hustled poor, defenseless Rei onto the street at the right moment?" The Russian's voice was dry and sardonic.

The Chinese was sure he had landed somewhere in the wrong movie – yes, he remembered things like movies did exist and he had even watched some TV already but always his head had started hurting then and he had switched the thing off again. Back to the topic at hand - was Kai just accusing Rei that Rei was accusing Kai that he had tried to murder him?

"Are you mental?! I never said anything like that! And I haven't listened to any stories about that, either!"

The Russian observed him with cold eyes, obviously trying to read something in his face. After a moment his expression changed, just a bit and what this meant the Chinese couldn't really tell but then Kai started to talk again in a rather normal voice and Rei blinked in astonishment.

"You had forgotten your wallet, so I came after you. You were standing in the middle of the street and the truck was already coming towards you. He was too fast but you could've managed I think, but you just didn't move."

What the hell was he saying?! "I… I didn't move? Why not?"

Kai gave him a long _long_ look. "I don't know."

Rei swallowed, his palms had become sweaty and his stomach felt funny as well. "But you don't think I was trying to…"

"No." One word and it didn't leave any room for doubts.

"Okay… good." But why hadn't he moved? Why should he have just been standing there? Somehow that really annoyed him. Was this Rei really a complete and utter idiot? Was he sure he _did_ want his memories back now? Well, yes, even if he was an idiot, better to know about that, right?... _Right_?


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own Beyblade! Purely fiction!

Thank you all very much for the reviews, they're appreciated!

A/N: For later in this chapter; according to my researches, 'hùnzhàng' means prick.

* * *

"Uh huh… and what is _that_?" The Chinese asked, pointing to the huge packet Tyson had just placed on a chair to get the chance to wipe the sweat off his brow.

"Really, I don't understand how you can study sports, Tyson, when just walking a couple of stairs makes you get that out of breath." The blond Max said teasingly, coming into the room now as well, carrying a second packet (a much smaller one).

The cap-wearer gave him a rather dark look, straightening himself up further. To be honest, Rei had been quite skeptical as well when he'd heard about Tyson's choice of study but then again, even though the young man was eating all the time, he didn't seem to gain much weight (well, yes, his cheeks were rather porky but that was about it) and was indeed at least somewhat muscular.

"You're one to talk, man. Why is it you got the light stuff whilst I had to carry the photo albums and books?"

That stirred Rei's attention. "Photo albums?"

Max nodded, smiling delighted. "Yes, we thought it'd be a good idea to show our pictures to you and we even brought some of your personal stuff." He rattled the box in his hands.

"Yeah, yeah, he can look through that later." Tyson commented impatiently. "First, I'm gonna show him those." He had opened the packet on the chair and was now holding a huge photo album with some sort of (comic?) binder in his hands.

The blond grimaced and shook his head. "Forget it, Tyson, show him some pictures that have all of us on it. I'm sure Rei is not interested in looking at your baby photos for hours. He can do that later when he's alone and really, really bored."

"Gah! You're so mean, Max! I was an especially cute child, everyone in my family said that!"

"If _cute_ is the equivalent to _fat_ in your family then that's right."

For a second the cap-wearer was just staring with big eyes and mouth widely agape at the third person that had entered the room at that moment (carrying… _nothing_, as Rei observed immediately) before he caught himself, gesturing wildly. The Chinese had to fight hard to keep a somewhat straight expression on his face.

"Kai, you asshole, were you just trying to imply that I am _fat_?!"

"Hn. I didn't try, and don't use words you don't even know the meaning of that could give people the deceptive impression that you're smart." This time Rei had to strongly bite his lower lip to keep himself from smirking evilly – or burst out laughing. But damn! Tyson was such a big target for mockery and he had been forced to swallow down so many comments that had lain on his own tongue already that it was hard to sympathize with the cap-wearer right now.

"Oh yeah, that again, you think just because you're such a high-class bimbo and all, you can look down on me and… "

The Chinese's brow shot up. What was that? High-class bimbo?

"I look down at you because I'm taller." Kai interrupted, watching Tyson with an almost bored look.

The cap-wearer nearly shivered from suppressed aggravation. "It's one inch! How often do I need to say it! It's just one inch!" Rei would say it was no less than two.

Max sighed exaggeratedly. "Tyson, Kai can't you at least try to get along for a while? For Rei's sake?"

What?! His sake? What had he to do with anything? Actually, he had found the whole thing kind of amusing but he couldn't say that, right? Great, now everyone was looking at him. Max and Tyson openly, the Russian just out of the corner of his eye.

"Uh… yeah, why don't you just give me one of the albums?" he asked innocently into the direction of the cap-wearer.

"Not _yours_." Max reminded him again when Tyson was already almost on his way, which made him growl but he obliged and picked another one out of the carton. This time it was a much smaller one with a simple dark blue binding.

Tyson strode over to Rei then and hopped next to him on the bed. "C'mon, c'mon, Max! This one's also good, it's from our trip to 'Funland'!"

'Funland'? Urgh, what the hell was that? Sounded somewhat… unpromising.

The blond nodded and sat down on Rei's bed as well, then he looked around to the only person still standing.

"What's with you, Kai? The bed's big enough. You can sit down over here, too."

Oh yeah, why not? They could all come, steal his space and make him feel even more _'comfortable'_ without even asking. No, it was fine, really.

For the shortest of moments the Russian's gaze swung towards them and Rei had a feeling there was a certain - indecision? - visible there. Their eyes met though and instantly Kai's scowl was back in place. Rei felt a slight tinge of annoyance rouse up inside of him. What did the Russian want? A handwritten invitation that pleaded him to sit down on his bed as well? Suuure, he could wait for that a bit longer.

"I'll stand."

Tyson groaned loudly. "Oh man, Kai, what's the deal? Just come here and sit down, you can't even see any pictures from over there."

"I already know the pictures." The Russian said stubbornly with a voice that was cold and daring. He had obviously made his decision and it was final. Tch, what a jerk.

"But Kai…!"

"Tyson, just leave him be." Max sighed, sounding defeated. Rei couldn't understand it. Why were they even trying?

"Fine." The cap-wearer said sounding pissed but his mood changed to the complete opposite immediately when Rei placed the album on his legs and opened it. "Oh oh oh, do you see that, Rei?! That's the entrance of 'Funland'!" The cap-wearer said excitedly while pointing to the very first picture in the album.

For a not so short moment the Chinese was honestly thinking about shooting himself.

.

.

"So, we were there in July almost three years ago?"

Max nodded. "Yes and it was really hot, that's why Tyson's face looks so red on every picture. He managed to get a serious sunburn that day."

"Yeah and it was just not fair! I mean, we had three Russians with us and none of them became even slightly red." Tyson shot Kai an accusing look.

The Russian didn't even bother to open his eyes, leaning seemingly relaxed against the wall again. "It's not my fault you forgot to use sun cream."

"And what did you use? Sun block for vampires?"

"I'm Russian, not Romanian." Kai stated dryly.

"Huh? What has that…"

Max cleared his throat. "You're lucky, Rei, right? I've never seen you sun-burnt."

"That's because he grew up in China." Tyson said sulkily. "He's simply used to it."

"And didn't forget… "

"Yeah, yeah, we got it, Kai! Gee, aren't you supposed to stand over there quietly?"

"I haven't said a quarter of the amount you were talking during that whole time – no one has…"

Tyson's face became red and this time it had nothing to do with sunburn. "That's…! I'm just trying to help Rei remember! You should be thanking me instead of playing Mr. Sourpuss again!"

Mr. Sourpuss? Hm. Ha, haha that was fitting. Rei couldn't help but show a small smirk now and strangely enough he immediately felt two dark eyes on him that looked anything but pleased. Whoa, why had always it to be him who got these glares?

The blond was obviously feeling the tension arising right then and averted the Chinese's attention again. "Hehe, oh Rei, look here, that was the rollercoaster we talked about earlier. The one everyone but you, Tala , Bryan and Kai were too afraid to go on."

The Chinese looked at the picture. Well, the rollercoaster looked indeed rather huge… and dangerous. Good to hear that he hadn't been a total wuss. Ah yeah, and on the next picture were the other two Russians again. Bryan and Tala. The redhead looked somehow – wicked – was that the right word for it? And Bryan… uh let's just say he never wanted to meet the guy somewhere alone in the dark. Skip that last part, he didn't even need the darkness to add up to it.

"I wasn't afraid! I just had a really full stomach!" Tyson complained.

"And sunstroke." The Russian commented.

"And suns… hey! You didn't want to go either because you thought everything to be too childish for your superior taste! You just went because you wanted to impre-"

"Finish that sentence and you're dead." It would've been funny if the threat had appeared to be a joke but – it hadn't. Even Tyson seemed sensitive enough to make out the danger and shut his big mouth.

Rei frowned. What had the cap-wearer wanted to say? Kai had tried to impre… impress someone maybe? Inwardly he snorted. Heh, who could that have been? Well, there had been two girls who had belonged to their group that day. Mariah and a friend of hers – Hilary – as Max had told him earlier. So, was it one of them? Surely not Mariah considering the way Kai had behaved towards her (or better they had behaved towards each other…). Hilary then? That was his taste? Really? Not that she was ugly or anything but on the pictures he had seen so far she had appeared to be, well, how to put this? A little _bossy_. But then again that was probably what Kai needed... maybe she was the ex-girlfriend? Stop a moment there -why in hell was he even thinking about such things?!

Next picture then. There were a few more of the rollercoaster ride. And oddly enough, on the pictures he was sitting next to Kai in the wagon, but then again they'd been four people and Tala and Bryan seemed to stick together on all of the pictures before so it was probably normal that they sat together there now as well, and since Max had said everyone else had been too afraid to go – or sick because of too much food and sun – that only left the conclusion that the Russian had to sit together with the only other person available – and that had obviously been him, Rei. Poor Kai.

Well, _Rei _still seemed to have had a lot of fun (even when he'd been sitting next to Kai). On most of the pictures he was either smiling or laughing brightly. So that was the first difference he could point out between him and that _old Rei _quite clearly. He didn't really feel like smiling much and he couldn't remember having laughed openly even once since the time he had woken up again. He wondered if all of his smiles back then had been honest ones. Was it even possible to smile that much without getting sick of it? Well, maybe Rei truly had been that kind of person. It was strange, really and again the Chinese overcame a certain feeling, something like… loss. He looked unobtrusively at the faces of the two men sitting beside him. The gentle blond, Max, and the loudmouthed Tyson. Did they miss that smiling, happy appearing person? Probably, but there was no use in pretending, was there? If he would smile like that now it _would_ be nothing but fake.

Again he felt doubts winding themselves around his heart. What if he could never remember how it had been to be that person? How it had been to be together with his friends, enjoying spending time with them? He'd looked at those pictures, all those pictures but… he couldn't _feel_ it. The emotions he saw inside of them. Did that sound strange? Ah it probably did. He couldn't explain it, not even to himself so how was he supposed to make them understand? Did that even make any sense? Would they want to hear this from him? No, they wouldn't. What they wanted was to have Rei back – _their_ Rei, the Rei they knew, the Rei they were used to. Rei with all his memories and smiles. And he realized yet again, even more so than before, he couldn't do that, he couldn't be that person, not if he wasn't able to remember. Funny, really, looking at those pictures of an obviously happy trip – it just made him feel all the more depressed.

"…Rei, are you all right?" A slightly concerned voice startled him out of his thoughts.

He looked up and noticed the Russian's inquiring gaze resting on him but he wasn't the one who had asked the question.

"I'm fine, Max. I was just thinking."

"Thinking? What were you thinking about? Did you maybe… remember something?!" Uh, Tyson again. Couldn't he just leave him alone with this already?

Rei felt all eyes on him. No helpful Max who would snap at Tyson to shut up this time, eh? Had they really hoped for that much from this simple picture looking session? Obviously they had. Just for a moment, a single tiny moment, he felt guilty – for not remembering something, anything, but then the anger overwhelmed him. If they thought they could pressure him with this they could all go to hell.

"No, no, I didn't remember and I've had enough of looking at those pictures as well!" He clapped the album shut.

The blond stared at him wide-eyed but understanding dawned in his eyes pretty soon. "Rei… what?... We didn't mean to upset you. Tyson was just hoping, well, we were all hoping that… we're sorry, we shouldn't have pushed the issue."

Damn straight, they shouldn't have! "It's fine." But his voice and his eyes told them clearly it wasn't. So what? He wasn't in the mood to put up a show for them.

"But Rei…" Tyson looked at him almost pleadingly. He didn't get it at all. What a surprise…

"Hn. Let's go, our amnesiac is obviously not willing to even try and remember."

That made the Chinese's head snap up and he was narrowing his eyes at the Russian. How could he dare say something like that?! He had no idea just how hard he had... Why was he getting angry? He didn't care what the Russian was thinking about him, right? He didn't care if the asshole knew how tough it was for him, to look at their faces everyday without… Ahh! Kai was a bastard, really just a bastard who wanted to provoke him again. Well, if that was his plan, Rei would curse himself if he let him succeed with it!

"Yeah, _you_ should go." It was just the slightest, the slightest of emphasize but the small flicker in Kai's eyes told the Chinese clearly that he hadn't missed it.

For a moment their angry gazes were fixed on each other, then Kai pushed himself off the wall. A last scowl in Rei's direction, then the Russian took his leave.

"Rei," Max tried again. "I'm really sorr- "

"I'm tired." The Chinese interrupted him rather rudely. "You should come back later." _Much_ later.

"O-Okay then, we… I'll leave the album here on the table and the box with your things so… I'm really sorry… Tyson, are you coming?"

The cap wearer looked almost startled, then his gaze wandered over to the Chinese somewhat regretfully whilst he finally stood. "What? Oh, oh yeah I'm coming. Sorry again, Rei."

The Chinese nodded curtly not really looking at him. He was sick of this. Sick of it all! If only he were able to remember…

.

.

So that was Rei's_ personal_ stuff, eh? Didn't seem especially interesting to him. A calendar (damn there were many names in the phone book section, did he really know that many people?), a device to hear music with – he knew because he had seen something similar on TV, a pad and some pencils (did he draw?) Oh yeah, there was already a picture… no way in hell would he have drawn something like that! What should that even resemble? Some kind of animal maybe with… three legs and four eyes? God, if he really was that bad in the departure he'd better not even try and start this again. A plain silver bracelet. Hm, there was no insignia on it or something but well, it looked all right, not too girly or anything; he put it on. It felt nice and algid on his skin.

Good, what was the next thing? A book. It looked rather old and used. The pages were already brown and the cover was bleached out. 'Russian child stories.' He read the English title. What? A book for children and in Russian? He looked through the first pages. Indeed, it was a language that appeared to be completely unknown to him. Surely this wasn't his book – it must have been Kai's then and the others had packed it by mistake. Tch, it had probably been Tyson's fault, the guy could be so daft. So, that was something the Russian liked? Children's stories? He never would've guessed but well, it wasn't his business anyway what the asshole enjoyed reading in his free time, was it?

'_Our amnesiac is obviously not willing to even try and remember.'_ Damn! Just thinking about that again made him feel genuinely furious inside. Oh yeah! The Russian was hopefully missing the precious little book - after all, the way it looked, he seemed to read it rather often and in that case the Chinese would conveniently forget that it was in his possession momentarily. Pretty cheap revenge? Maybe, but being in the situation he was in right now he couldn't afford to be picky. He didn't know Kai, therefore he had no idea how he could tick him off. Well, Mariah ticked him off, but thinking about her… he hadn't seen the girl again ever since that first time she and Lee had arrived together that had ended in a rather _short_ visit. Not that he regretted it or anything but she had seemed so eager to see him and the few days Lee had been talking about were also already over…

He shrugged. The fewer people pestering him the better. News about his recovery had obviously spread in Rei's circle of acquaintances by now and he had looked rather dumb when his room had been swept with flowers, cards and strange things like a teddy bear holding a big red heart with _'Get well soon, honey' _written on it (That was the first occasion when he had thought that this Tala was wicked… or nuts). He had a big room admittedly, (he didn't even want to think of how much money that must have cost him; when he got out of hospital he'd probably be broke) but it had become quite full with unnecessary things and Max and the others finally had been friendly enough to take most of the stuff to his apartment as they had told him. Not that he had any idea what he wanted with it there.

Maybe Kai would rid him of that problem anyway. He had looked rather darkly at all the cards, flowers and other presents that had arrived, and opted for just throwing it in the garbage – of course, Tyson and Max had looked at him rather horrified then and even if Rei had been tempted to, he couldn't have agreed. Not that agreeing with the Russian after what he had said to him earlier would be an option ever again…

But when the stuff was lying around at their shared apartment (it was still weird to know that Kai was his flat mate), he was pretty sure no one could hold the Russian back from making his own judgment about the value those things had to him – and since they were for Rei that would be somewhere around zero – and find a better place for them to stay – in the trash can.

Not that he'd really mind… but he would still complain in front of at least Tyson and Max so that they could start harassing the Russian because of his lack of respect for the property rights of others. It would probably stop just as soon as Kai threatened one of them with murder again, but if it pissed the Russian off even just a little bit it was seriously worth it.

.

.

He had gone back to looking through the album. Not that Kai's words had any effect on him, of course, but maybe there was a chance for him to… it couldn't hurt, could it? It was strange seeing himself in these pictures. Well, it had been even more than strange seeing himself for the first time in a mirror. Nothing had seemed familiar – it _still_ didn't.

He tried his best to concentrate. Looking every photograph over and over many times in case it could trigger – something inside of him. When he was done with 'Funland' he called for a nurse and asked her to hand him more of the albums. He didn't even register the time flying by when he forced himself through hundreds and hundreds of photos. When he had finished the tenth album his head was spinning and his mouth was dry and all in all he felt totally drained and nauseous - and _angry_. He just couldn't understand it. Now he had seen so many, so many pictures. Casual stuff and birthday parties, vacation at the beach, picnic at a park, even Christmas but… _nothing_! There was just nothing that meant anything to him. He growled in frustration and shoved the albums off his bed feeling more satisfied when they thumped loudly on the floor.

Stupid albums, stupid photos. And stupid, stupid head for starting to hurt again! Every damn day this had to happen. A fierce shooting pain that climbed up his spine, settled down in his skull, causing an enormous pressure behind his eyes that made him feel like they'd pop out any second!

A knock. Oh hell, not now! It was a younger nurse – one he hadn't seen before - bringing his evening meal. He wasn't hungry in the least. He told her so. She smiled placatory whilst blushing, obviously not sensing his murderous mood, and suggested she just put it on the table so that he could eat it later on. Then she saw the mess he'd made on the floor and started picking up the albums again. He barked at her to leave it be, he could do it himself – which actually wasn't the case but right now he really didn't care – and she still didn't get that he just wanted to have his peace right now, and told him sweetly that it was no trouble at all. That was when he lost it and yelled at her and he didn't really pay attention to what it was he said but he could tell it was nasty because she got a pretty horrified expression on her face and hurriedly left after apologizing in a rather thin voice.

The Chinese snorted. Yeah, run! Too bad that that always fucking friendly looking, damn smiling Rei isn't so friendly anymore! Get used to it! He turned in his bed and hauled the blanket over his head. Damn, he wouldn't start to feel guilty now. No, he wouldn't feel guilty at all!

.

.

Rei didn't think so many parts of his body had ever hurt and all at once - even if of course he had no mnemonic proof since he still couldn't remember having ever felt pain before the moment he'd woken up from his coma, without counterevidence he would insist on it. He'd never felt that much pain ever before in all places of his body. Physiotherapy was just over and he was almost willing to call it quits and never learn to walk, if that meant he'd never have to endure these painful exercises again.

"You look as if somebody just severely tortured you."

Rei pulled a face and looked at the childhood friend who'd just slipped through the door. "You have no fucking idea, I feel like dying!"

Lee's expression became serious. "You shouldn't say things like that, Rei. I'm not sensitive and I know how you mean it but it could pain some others hearing stuff like that coming from you."

Had he just gotten scolded? Fantastic! He was hurting and now he got word-pummeled if he dared to express it. "Ah, wasn't thinking, sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, I wasn't trying to lecture you, just some advice. I know it's hard for you but your friends deserve some consideration as well, even if you can't remember them." Lee paused seemingly in thought. "There's something I came to talk to you about… but maybe it's not the best of times, would you prefer if I came back later?"

Rei frowned slightly; somehow this conversation was already getting irritating for him. And his head hurt. God, did his head hurt. "Uh, no, it's all right, I guess, just… say it."

The childhood friend gave him an unconvinced look but finally nodded in agreement. "It's about Kai and Mariah. I told you the two have their difficulties and I can accept that without siding with either of them, even though Mariah is my sister and means a lot to me, but now Kai really has gone a step too far." Lee's face became dark and the anger was clearly visible in his eyes; Rei stared at him rather speechlessly.

"So… what did he do?" Rei wasn't quite sure if he actually wanted to know what the mean Russian had done this time but it seemed to be expected of him to ask the question, so he just did.

"He forbade her to come visit you." Lee almost spat and Rei's eyes widened slightly. "He even went as far as to impose a complete communication ban. Right now she cannot even call you and she's very unhappy about that."

Kai had done WHAT?! Why the hell could he even do that? Who gave him the right and…

"I didn't want to get you involved in this, Rei, and I'm apologizing for it but I tried to talk to him and he's too stubborn and unforgiving to see that this is just an overly-drastic act that will do nothing to solve the actual problem in the end. So I came to ask you this. Do you think you could try to talk to Kai and make him see reason? It's not that Mariah and he would need to come visit you together, he could just stay away when she's here."

Wow, wow, wow, this was all getting a little too much right now. So, Mariah had wanted to visit and Kai had said 'no' and now she couldn't? And Lee had talked to him but Kai had insisted on his ban and now Lee was angry enough to come with the crisis to Rei and ask him to ask Kai to think about it a second time, even though Rei had absolutely no idea what the problem between Kai and Mariah was in the first place _and_ was one of the last people the Russian would be likely to listen to. Good, and now that he made a sum up of all of this in his head, it felt close to bursting. "Just give me the number."

Lee looked at him like he was an alien with three heads. "What?"

Rei was tempted to roll his eyes but he concluded that that wouldn't be a good idea. "Her number, give me her number and I'm going to call her, all right? I don't know anything about the thing that's going on with her and Kai and I really have no idea why you think I could talk with him about it too. The guy hates me. By the way, why does he even have the authority to ban her?"

"That's a long story." The childhood friend answered evadingly.

"Then make it short." Rei gave him an expectant look but it was quite clear Lee was unwilling to follow his command. Rei was feeling more than a bit annoyed already. How could he come here and demand things from him without sharing something in return? Why the fuck was he always making such a damn secret out of everything? At the moment he didn't feel like arguing though. "Ah, all right, you know what? Just now, I really don't care because my head and everything is honestly killing me and yeah, I know you don't want me to say that but it's true. So, just leave me the number and it'll be fine."

Rei watched Lee giving him a rather disapproving glance but then he pulled out a small notepad with a pen attached and scribbled down on it. Hn, must be of advantage to work at a café, at least you always had something to write with you. Lee put the number on his table. "She really will be happy if you call her."

Rei decided it was better for his mental health to not think about this comment too thoroughly. "Yeah, sure, whatever." He still didn't feel pleased with the way things had gone. Why couldn't he just answer his questions?

Lee sighed. "Don't be mad at me, Rei, I'm not doing this to annoy you but there are a few things that could be too much for you to know at the moment, and the doctor advised us to take it slowly."

Rei grimaced. He could make his own decisions, damnit! And he sure as hell needed no one to baby him! "Yes, of course, you're all just looking out for my wellbeing!"

"Yes we are," The other Chinese insisted, calmly not reacting to Rei's verbal attack in the slightest. "And I'm really sorry that at the moment you aren't able to appreciate that."

"I would appreciate if you'd just leave me alone now!" Rei hissed and his golden orbs were flaring with resentment.

Lee nodded, repentance showing in his eyes. "I will. It wasn't my intention to make you feel bad, I'm really sorry."

Rei snorted and turned his head away, waiting for the other man to leave. He didn't want Lee to be sorry, he wanted him to answer his damn questions but it was futile to try to achieve this and it wasn't just Lee… they all, they were all avoiding certain topics with him and some of them were anything but skilled in trying to hide that fact. It bothered him but at the moment he couldn't do much about it and… he couldn't think about it right now anyway! He needed some sleep. Sleep was good. It made him forget his anger and forget his pain and - just everything. Yes, sleep was good, it was always good and his pillow was soft, really soft and nice, he just needed to close his eyes and relax a bit and then he could, he would just…

.

.

Rei blinked, yawned, stretched and - winced. Goddamnit! Pain, pain, pain! He sat up slowly and grabbed his head. Bad move! Now his whole body was aching! Ah this wasn't fair. Not fair at all. He had done nothing to deserve this. Why did the world hate him that much?

"Are you all right?"

Oh no! That voice! The world did not just hate him, it loathed him to its core, it wanted to have him removed from its very surface!

The Chinese slowly opened his eyes again and brought his head up to glance at the person who was standing near the window with crossed arms. It seemed he hadn't even tried to move and get over to him, seeing that he was so obviously not all right at all! But there was a certain insecurity in the Russian's gaze, or maybe Rei was just imagining things. Well, he didn't care either way.

"Sure, everything's just great, can't you tell?" Rei snapped sardonically, not caring that he was the one being hostile from the very first second this time.

The Russian's eyes darkened slightly but his tone was neutral when he spoke. "Is it your head again?"

Yes, damnit, it was his head again, his head and everything else! Rei just gave him a nasty look. He doubted Kai actually cared and even if he did – it should be obvious, since he had gripped his skull with both hands!

Kai made a step away from the wall, his arms falling to his side. "Do you want me to get someone?"

The Chinese frowned. Had he just heard that right? Was the Russian actually trying to be friendly now? Damn! Rei had wanted to continue being mean. Why was Kai suddenly making an effort? Did he actually feel bad for the way he had talked to Rei on their last encounter? That couldn't be it.

"No I don't want you to get someone. If I need someone I can do that myself. Maybe I'm a bit handicapped at the moment but I'm still able to push a single button." The Chinese said whilst gesturing to his right, where his call button was situated.

Now Kai scowled. Ha! There went the Russian's pretend solicitousness. Oh, and he mumbled something under his breath whilst leaning against the wall again that Rei obviously wasn't supposed to understand, because it sounded suspiciously like Kai's mother tongue.

Golden orbs narrowed slightly. "You were insulting me just now, weren't you? Don't you think if you insult a person you should at least have the guts to tell them in a language they can understand?"

Kai gave him an almost challenging look. "Maybe you usually did understand that."

That made Rei's eyebrows shoot up. "Why should I? Because you were insulting me so often in Russian before that I looked the words up in a dictionary?"

The Russian crossed his arms. "Don't praise yourself too much; I learned enough Chinese insults as well."

Really now? "Then you'll surely understand when I'm telling you I think you're a real - hùnzhàng."

Kai's eyes shot daggers at him.

Rei felt pleased and a little surprised. "You do!"

The Russian scowled again but then he suddenly… no, no that couldn't be… but no doubt, no doubt it was true – Kai smiled. Not a big smile or an especially bright one but a smile nonetheless. Rei couldn't help but stare. It looked… good on the Russian, maybe, just, somehow of course. "At least that hasn't changed about you."

"Huh?" Rei had almost missed those last words being too busy getting over the shock that the Russian was actually smiling because they had insulted each other. Or was that even the reason?

Kai's smile contorted into a cruel little smirk. "You always had a big mouth, Kon."

Tch, that was… figured that this would be something the Russian enjoyed! Making fun of him! And the surname calling again when he still didn't know Kai's surname. Argh! Why hadn't he asked someone that yet? He had a big mouth? He had a big mouth?! Fine! "Well since we're already at it, care to explain why you banned Lee's sister from visiting here?"

That wiped the smile that had changed into a smirk completely from the Russian's features. "So he came running to you." Kai spat, making a nearly disgusted face.

Rei took a deep breath trying to deal with the enormous pain he was still in before he spoke. "Well, maybe he thought I had a right to decide myself who I want to or not want to visit me, but of course that's just a theory."

The crimson shimmer in the Russian's eyes seemed to be growing when he sneered darkly. "Why? Did you miss her hugs that much that you can't stand not seeing her for a while?"

Rei had no idea why he was becoming so furious but the way Kai kept on attacking him with these accusing, vengeful words when he didn't even really know what he was accused of all the time… it made him feel so goddamn pissed! And it wasn't that he truly wanted to see the girl, it was just that Kai thought he had the right to order him and other people around – and succeeded with it! - that irked him so badly! "What the hell is your damn problem?! I got that you hate her by now, but what has that to do with me?! If I want to talk to her, I'll do that! And-!"

He gasped. A hot, piercing pain was shooting through his brain and Rei couldn't continue to talk. He squeezed his eyes shut and his hands shot up to grip his head again to prevent it from moving only an inch. Oh god! Oh god! That hurt! His breath came in heavy, short pants and sweat was breaking out on his skin. His blood felt hot and his heart was racing.

He heard footsteps then and he felt a hand on his shoulder. He wanted to push it away but he couldn't dare move. Not before that pain had subsided some more.

"Rei?" This time he didn't imagine it. The Russian's tone sounded concerned. Well, he should be! After all this was his fault! If he hadn't made Rei lose it like this… damn! Couldn't it stop now?!

The hand left him again. "I'll get someone."

"No." The Chinese breathed out between clenched teeth. "Just… just a second." He didn't want people to come and fuss over him again. It made him feel so pathetic. It would go away soon.

There was a tense silence. "Are you sure?"

He took three more deep breaths. Yes he was sure, it felt slightly better already. Slowly, testing, he let his hands drop. "Yeah, it's all right now."

"Rei, don't play tough guy. If it hurts then goddamn say so." Kai's tone was hard and unforgiving once more.

The Chinese turned his head slowly, slowly and opened his eyes just enough so that he could make out the Russian's figure standing next to his bed. Somehow at the brink of his mind Rei registered that Kai had never been that close to him before. Why he even did register this though he wasn't sure. "Fuck. Shut up. This is my body. I decide what to do with it."

"Well, it can't be so bad when you're still swearing." The Russian commented dryly.

Rei wanted to roll his eyes but cleverly refrained from doing so and instead just leaned back into his pillow. He moved up his left hand to wipe his bangs out of his face. It was then that he heard a small gasp and this time it surely wasn't coming from him.

He opened his eyes widely and looked at the Russian whose gaze was sternly fixed on a part of his body. "Why are you wearing that?" Kai's voice was nearly toneless and he breathed through his nose, his face nothing but a hard mask.

Huh? Wearing what? Rei followed the path of Kai's eyes and realized that the part of his body that held the Russian all captured was his left wrist where the bracelet was dangling he had found in the box with his personal stuff. So, why did Kai seem so out of it just because of that thing?

"It's mine, isn't it?" He asked a bit more carefully than he had intended to. It was easier to snap at the Russian when he wasn't standing so close that Rei could almost feel the waves of annoyance and irritation he was giving off right now.

Kai didn't answer and the black haired man was getting more uncomfortable by the second. Had the others made another mistake with that thing? Why did Kai appear so repulsed about him wearing it? Was it his? Oh hell, was this maybe Kai's bracelet? "Look, it was in that box Max brought me but if it's not mine then here, you can have it back."

Rei was already fumbling with the breech when Kai finally seemed to have found his voice again. "No, it's yours, keep it."

That didn't sound convincing. And if it really was Rei's from the beginning why should Kai tell him to keep it as if he was just giving up on a personal possession?

"You don't have to go out of your skin just because I'm amnesic. If it's yours I don't want it."

"It's not mine." Kai growled, almost glaring at him now.

Uh huh. Rei was maybe amnesic but he was _not_ stupid. "Then why are you so… "

"Just forget it!" Kai snapped dangerously and stepped away from the bed again showing his back to Rei.

"Okay, okay I'll forget it." Asshole. "It's way too nice to be owned by someone like you anyway." Rei mumbled almost a bit sulkily.

There was a longer silence again. "You think it's nice?"

Well, wasn't that an innocent question now? A bit too innocent to be coming from a person like Kai, right? And he was glancing at him again out of the corner of his eye as if he could get caught by something looking at him more openly. God, this guy was just too strange to be true.

For a moment Rei felt really tempted to give a nasty remark about that, keeping in mind that the Russian had been behaving like a jerk all the time but somehow – it didn't feel right. He had no explanation, it was just… hell, something seemed to be in the air, it was… he finally settled for… "I wouldn't have put it on if I thought it was awful, would I?"

"Hn."

Rei brought his palm over his eyes. That again.

"That's it, Kon. I'll get a doctor." Kai's tone was harsh.

What? The Russian had obviously interpreted his gesture wrongly. Oh damnit! Why did he have to act like a fucking nice person right now?! "No! I told you it's all right. My head is hurting all the time, it's nothing special and too many drugs just knock me out. I don't want to be knocked out, alright." Rei stated in annoyance.

"So you'll rather suffer from the pain?" The Russian spat and his eyes were looking like glowing crimson coals.

Rei narrowed his eyes slightly. "Why are you such a bother all of a sudden? Look, it's not that I _like_ the pain but I've been out for… really long and now that I'm awake I want to stay awake for a while and I'm not being unreasonable, when it gets too much I'll ask for something to relieve it but for now I'm fine." Rei had no idea why he felt the need to explain himself to the Russian. It wasn't his business, was it?

"Hn." Kai grunted and this time it sounded almost – understanding? Apologizing? No, Rei was reading too much into these Hn sounds, and probably just the things he wanted to.

"So… because of Mariah…" Rei tried again and the Russian's gaze became immediately sharper. Hell, it wasn't as if the Chinese was so keen on discussing this right now himself… wait! Actually, yes, he had wanted to discuss this right now!

"Just why do you dislike her so much?"

"I don't need to explain myself concerning her." Kai glared and it seemed as if there was a wordless 'especially not to you' following that sentence.

The black haired man felt angered. "Okay, then don't, don't explain it, just let her come back in. I'm tired of that whole display of childishness you two keep performing around here. If you don't get along so be it but don't drag other people into this who have nothing to do with it."

It seemed of all the things he could have said… Rei had chosen to say the exactly the wrong thing. "So it doesn't concern you, Kon?" The Russian questioned with a murderously serene tone, almost burning him with his gaze. "It doesn't concern you at all?"

This was so, so unfair! "How should I know if it does concern me or not when no one is willing to tell me?! If it does then tell me! Tell me how and why and what and… whatever I should know! An-!" This time the pain was so fierce that it took his breath away completely and his eyes nearly bulged out before he managed to snap the lids shut over them.

"Rei?!" Kai's alarmed voice rang in his ears.

"Just… let's just talk about this… la…" Everything slipped away.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own Beyblade! Purely FICTION!

Thank you all so much for your input, it's greatly appreciated!

* * *

"I hope we understand each other now, Mr. Kon. I really don't like lecturing my patients like this, you can believe me, but your condition is a very special one and it would be in your best interest to not expose yourself to too much stress right now. You should also take your medication according to the schedule we worked out together."

Rei felt like scowling. The doc didn't like to pester his patients? Then why had this_ lecture_ been dragging on for over half an hour already? And all the man did was repeat and repeat and repeat himself. Did he think Rei was an idiot or something? Just because he had some problems with his memory didn't mean he had to be treated like a retard! And he shouldn't expose himself? He shouldn't expo- as if he did anything to invite the trouble into his room all the time!

The trouble just came and talked or didn't talk, at least not about the things he wanted to, and it seriously began to piss him off. It wasn't his fault though! No one would be able to stay calm and completely detached from everything in his situation. But Rei had stopped to try and justify himself the moment he had realized that that just made his doctor talk even more. Maybe the man was in love with his own voice, it wouldn't surprise the Chinese, not one single bit.

So he had decided to simply keep quiet and nod once in a while to give off the impression that he was still intently listening to the man's advice whilst his thoughts had slowly started to drift off. He had fainted in front of the Russian. How humiliating was that? And that only after he had told him he wouldn't need any help to look after himself. Yeah, that had gone really well, hadn't it? But it was as if his control had just slipped. Sometimes he felt like a stranger in this unfamiliar body and he had yet to learn to properly interpret its signals. Everything had happened so fast and the pain had grown to an alarming level within seconds. It was no wonder that, as a reaction, his body had simply shut down.

"… I also spoke to Mr. Hiwatari and tried to make him understand that it is essential for your recovery to get enough rest. I am well aware of the fact that your friends want to be at your side at all times to support you, but putting yourself under too much pressure won't do anything to –"

Out of the whole full speech, exactly one thing had reached Rei. Who the hell was Mr. Hiwatari? "Who the he- uhh, I mean, who is Mr. Hiwatari?"

The Chinese had the feeling he had asked something very wrong now because his good doc was giving him a very weird stare. "Your friend, Mr. Kai Hiwatari? He was with you when you lost consciousness and informed the staff."

Ah! So Hiwatari it was... "Oh, yeah." Rei made haste to reassure the older man when he noticed that the stare had gotten even more intense. "I knew that." He added with emphasis. Bad enough that his doctor already thought he was an idiot, he didn't also need to think that even his newest memories were failing him now. Not that knowing that Hiwatari was the Russian's surname was an actual memory he had had to this point, since he had just gotten the information when the doctor had so helpfully pointed it out to him.

The man in the white gown rewarded his words with a small frown but finally nodded and glanced at his watch. "Unfortunately I'm having an operation in twenty minutes and still need to get prepared, that's why we have to cut this conversation short. I hope you will heed my advice and behave more considerate with your own health in the future."

_Short?!_ The doc was trying to shit him now, wasn't he? Rei was sure the man could not be serious about this. Suddenly he realized that his mouth stood open stupidly and covered it up by coughing a little into a fist. That made the doctor's head snap up again though, and his rather unnerving gaze was fixed on the man in the hospital bed once more. Oh oh, wrong move, Rei concluded and let his hand fall down again. "Uh, right, I'll keep it in mind."

"Good good. I'll be going now then." The older man nodded in satisfaction, fiddling a bit with his pen. "Don't hesitate to call the staff if you should need anything Mr. Kon. I will be checking up on you again later." The doctor gave a last nod meant as a goodbye before he strode to the door, and Rei was doing his best to force a meek smile onto his lips. The moment the door closed, however, his features contorted into a grimace.

Should that actually happen he had to take some matters of precaution. Stuffing his ears with cotton wool or pretending to be heavily asleep or singing some song in his head whilst… he made a face. He hadn't really memorized any song so far. Yes, he had tried to listen to music after he had found out just how exactly his MP3 player worked but most of the stuff on it had appeared to be a bit strange to him, and the kind of music that hadn't threatened to blast off his ears had always lulled him to sleep. He knew the jingles of a few commercials though, maybe that would work… ahh, surely not for over half an hour!

His doctor was a masochist, he had to be. It had just been one little faint, one little – and they were making a ruckus as if… shit, when he had woken up again the nurses had fussed over him like he was made out of glass and sometime in between the doctor had showed up giving him all these stern and exhorting gazes and then started his endless lecture-like rant… if he had not gotten a few pills beforehand his headache surely would have climbed up a new agony level because of this. And why, why in nine hells was he the only one who had had to suffer through all this? His _friend,_ Mr. Kai Hiwatari, was at least as much at fault as him. Sure sure, the doctor had mentioned that he had talked to the Russian as well but if Rei was honest with himself he doubted the bastard would have just stood there and listened to a tirade; _he_ wasn't the one tied to a damn hospital bed after all. If he could just walk again… then Rei would have walked out of here a while ago to find a place where he really could have the peace the doctor had kept on talking about.

.

.

"Rei?! How are you feeling, man? We heard what happened from Kai this morning, well, sort of, but we had to wait because the doctor had ordered for you to get your time to first recover some more. So, of course, we were meanwhile bugging Kai to fill us in on all the juicy details but he was playing the stubborn ass again and hung on his cell all the time and got angry and rushed off after the white coat had spoken to him alone for some minutes, and then we had to wait even longer and the damn vending machine ate all of my money!"

"Hello to you too, Tyson, Max." The Chinese said dryly whilst slowly bringing himself in a more comfortable sitting position.

"Hey Rei." The blond smiled softly, closing the door behind him that Tyson had left open when he had stormed into the Chinese's room. "Is it okay for us to visit you? If we are a bother right now and you need more time to…"

"Ah Maxie, to me Rei looks rather healthy, doesn't he?" Tyson interrupted whilst stepping closer to the bed to be able to give the Chinese a proper inspection. "I mean the way Kai was glooming around I had reckoned to find something… I dunno, he just appears the same as before, right? A little pale around the nose maybe, but nothing to really worry about."

Again Rei was amazed at the cap-wearer's talent to be so not tactful at all. He snorted. "So, do you want me to apologize now for not being half dead?"

"See! He's already making jokes again. I told you, he's just fine!" The cap-wearer laughed and flopped down on the foot end of the Chinese's bed.

Max smiled a bit nervously, twitching his fingers whilst sending a look to Rei that was both - apologizing and asking for confirmation of the assumption the loud-mouthed glutton of their little trio had just made. Rei couldn't help but slightly quirk his lips and nod. Yeah, sure, Tyson was an idiot but at least he wasn't treating him like an invalid.

The blond breathed out in relief giving him another smile, this time a completely genuine one, and crossed the space to carefully sit down on the bed next to Tyson. Said person was already fingering on his cap and then on his shirt in an impatient manner. The Chinese had seen a short report about such people on TV. They were called hyperactive. You could receive pills for it.

"C'mon Rei, now you have to tell us what really happened yesterday. We were practically sitting around here all morning and I didn't even get a proper lunch!"

"Tyson, stop being so rude!" Max chided pinching his sitting neighbor in the upper arm.

"Ouch! What was that for now Maxie?" Hiro's little brother cried out and immediately started rubbing over the spot on his arm animatedly. "I was just asking a question."

"It was for calling me Maxie and being rude towards Rei, and now shut up for a moment and give Rei a chance to say something… and remember what the doctor said." He finished his speech, his voice having gotten rather hushed at the end.

What the doctor said? So, the doctor had spoken to the two loonies as well? Fair, fair. What had he told them though? Well, whatever it was, it made Tyson's face warp in sudden guilt. "Uh, sorry guys. Wasn't really thinking."

Rei drew a brow. He wasn't sure there were any time or occasion the cap-wearer really was, but his sudden obedience made him feel uneasy. Maybe it wasn't so good that his doc had talked to them after all. Why were they behaving this strange now? It was just one little faint, just one!

The Chinese shrugged then trying his best to appear unconcerned, blocking out the small flicker of worry that was building up inside of him. "It was nothing, really. Had a headache, blacked out for a while, woke up again, and ate dinner after the doc was done with his interrogation."

Two pairs of eyes were fixed on him in astonishment. "What, that's it?" Tyson blurted out. "That's why Kai made a face like a sour grape and complained about people not being able to know their own limits?"

The Russian had done what?! He had COMPLAINED about him?! That did it now! It had been his provocations that had caused this kind of escalation in the first place but Rei had been even willing to look over that and not blame him openly like a damn offended maiden, but… but!

"Ouch! Maxie what…" One look of the blond shut Tyson up again.

"Ah Rei, that's not exactly… Kai had been very concerned." Max tried to alleviate the impact of the cap–wearer's words, having obviously gotten the gift - unlike other people in this room - to sense a sudden change of atmosphere. "I know you have problems comprehending it but you two had been truly close friends and you not remembering any of that… it really gets to Kai on some level and I know the way he expresses it is not always the most common one, but he… you just have to get to know him better again. He's not so bad all of the time and he cares for you."

Rei's eyes widened. T-truly close friends? Him and the, the Russian? The blond was right, he _had_ problems comprehending that. And he cared? Yeah, he had seen how that had gone. "I don't see him here to apologize." The Chinese huffed, not really willing to discuss the issue about Kai actually caring about him right now.

"Aha! So it was something Kai did that ma… AHHH!!!" Tyson jumped up from the bed, rubbing his arm even harder than the two times before, whilst glaring at the blond viciously. "What are you planning to do?! I have a game in two days, wanna sabotage that or something? If you go on like this I won't be able to use my arm anymore!"

Max crossed his arms over his chest, frowning in a way that made him look more cute than unyielding. At least that was what Rei thought. "If you don't want me to punish you then start using your brain for a change and not let everything come out of your mouth just because you feel like it. Don't always be so selfish and consider other people's feelings once in a while as well."

Maybe the Chinese was imagining it but for a moment Tyson really looked… hurt. Then he shoved his chin forward in a stubborn gesture of defense. "Fine, I'm gonna go and find something to eat, that way you can talk to Rei alone and I make sure to not get in the way with my selfishness." That said he turned and marched out of the room closing the door behind him louder than necessary.

The blond sighed a bit crestfallen but then he straightened himself up and sent the Chinese a positive smile. "Sorry for that Rei, but sometimes Tyson needs to be reminded that he isn't a twelve-year-old anymore." Max shrugged then and winked. "He will probably sulk for a while but he'll get over it and if not… I know how to make him forgive me." The blonde's smile widened into a grin.

"Buy him cake?" Rei suggested with a hint of hidden sadism, having followed the whole display kind of fascinated. Who would have thought the blond could be that mean? Of course the things he had said were true and Tyson had behaved out of line… getting a proper ticking-off now and again sure couldn't be too bad for him either.

Max blinked, his mouth slightly opening. "Did you remember that or…"

Uh oh…"Just a guess." The Chinese interrupted hastily. Hell! He had been kidding here!

"Oh, uhm, you've always been very smart." The blond complimented him snickering before composing himself again sending the black-haired man a more serious look, his blue eyes shining with honest apprehension whilst also expressing a certain intensity. "Are you really feeling alright Rei?"

Inwardly the Chinese groaned. He should probably appreciate the amount of concern Rei's friends were showing towards him but how should he ever be able to believe himself to be a full-value individual again when everyone just seemed to see him as something fragile? He honestly felt like right now he would rather deal with Tyson's bluntness than Max's inquiring perceptiveness. He couldn't get mad at the blond though, not when he was just truly worried about a friend even if the Chinese didn't remember what it had involved being that friend. "Yeah, Max, I'm fine. The worst of all was the doc's endless chattering anyway."

The blond blinked, then brought a hand to his mouth and started giggling into his palm. "He does talk a lot, doesn't he?" He asked cannily. "Not even Tyson managed to really get a word in and it was Kai that kind of rescued us in the end."

Oh really? Now Rei just felt all the more pissed at the Russian. Why hadn't he come to his resc – _stop _there was definitely something wrong with that certain notion. Why would he… urgh, better not even start to think about this, besides, he didn't need someone to rescue him. He was a grown man, right? With many manly attributes like… uh, long black silky hair and big golden eyes…? Oh yeah, right! Why did this have to struck him now out of everything?

"Hey Rei, what's wrong?" Max inquired. "You look so sullen all of a sudden. Is it still because you are displeased with Kai's behavior?" The blond sighed. "Believe me he knows it wasn't all right an –"

"Ah, no, it's fine. Wasn't thinking about him." The Chinese half lied not really feeling up to hearing stuff about the Russian again - he had a more serious problem right now anyway. "Just… why did I never get my hair cut? Isn't this totally unhandy?" He asked whilst fingering one of the long black strands. And if he hadn't gotten it cut, why not the staff at the hospital? It had had to be such a bother to care for the coma patient and his super long hair to keep it all healthy and well-tended.

Now Max looked as if he had been struck, really been struck with an iron rod, electrified by lightning and fallen into shocked silence, and Rei as a reaction let go of his hair immediately, flashing the blond a smile that was so fake that he was sure he wouldn't be able to make a good career as an actor.

"Just joking, wasn't meant serious." He made haste to choke out the fake words that went along with the fake smile but after a long moment of tension the blond seemed to buy it after all, his whole body relaxing in obvious relief. Maybe he was not really as perceptive as he sometimes appeared to be, the Chinese thought, or it was just that Max didn't want to let himself think about Rei, the Rei he was supposed to know, questioning the length of his own hair? Hell, was this such a peculiar topic? He hadn't thought it to be one but damn what did he really have a clue about even when it concerned his very own being? Obviously none at all, he concluded whilst getting confronted with the aggravating feeling of bitterness that seemed to be in the best position to become his constant companion.

.

.

Luckily Max had left again shortly after the dreadful hair conversation – well, maybe rather monolog - and Rei had time to sort out his thoughts for a while. He really was utterly dissatisfied with the whole situation and that he was feeling quite helpless to actually change something at that didn't do much to improve his mood. Things were supposed to get better, he was supposed to remember something, wasn't he? So why hadn't it happened so far? He could tell the others were waiting for it, watching him with intense gazes, listening to his every word to make sure to not miss the moment he would say something of importance that would indicate some sort of improvement of his mind.

He shook his head. It wasn't his fault. It wasn't that he didn't try, but how to force yourself into thinking about things you forgot had ever occurred? It was all so unfair and the Chinese wasn't sure how much longer the patience of Rei's friends would truly last. Would they get angry like the Russian and accuse him of deliberately not making an effort? And what had Max been trying to do concerning that topic anyway? Was Rei the one who should feel guilty now because Kai obviously didn't know how to deal with the whole issue? It wasn't any easier for him! Damn, he could bet it was a hell of a lot more complicated for him! At least Kai remembered his friends, Rei was talking to strangers on a daily basis, always fearing to slip up and say something completely inappropriate. Like the hair… what the fuck had been going on with that? Had the old Rei treated it like some sort of sanctuary, or what? It was just hair!

Maybe he should just demand scissors and cut it all off. Hell yeah, then Max would have a reason to look at him as if he had gone mad! The Chinese huffed. Stupid hair and stupid Max and stupid doctor and even more stupid Russian an- suddenly Rei's eyes came to halt on a white piece of paper – oh, he had nearly forgotten about this - that Mariah girl's cell phone number, still lying on the place where her older brother had left it. Rei shifted to the edge of the hospital bed, extended an arm and picked it up.

He stared at the figures for a while. Hmm… should he? And why not?

He grabbed the phone from the nightstand and dialed in the number, then he waited and when the Chinese was almost sure that no one would pick up, a girl's voice appeared on the other line. "Hello?" The girl that the Chinese guessed was Mariah, asked questioningly. Rei didn't even manage to say something though, because the second he had opened his mouth the girl started yelling. "I know it's not my damn break! Don't be such a fucking slave driver! It won't kill anyone to wait for their coffee a minute longer!"

Rei had nearly gotten a heart attack but then he became aware of the fact that she obviously wasn't yelling at him but someone – a male person – that just gave his reply in the background and it didn't sound like he was very pleased.

"Oh shut up." The girl said next in a rather irritated tone. "So whose this calling now? I don't recognize the number."

Oh! She was addressing him again, right? Should he say something now? Somehow he felt a little bit disturbed all of a sudden but he had already called so... "Uh… this is… Rei, sorry if I'm int-"

"ReiRei!! Oh my god this is you!" The Chinese held the phone further away from his ear when her words seemed to morph into some kind of squeal. "I'm so glad you called! I've been waiting since forever. Lee said you would but I wasn't sure anymore, but now you have, that's so nice! I was really worried about you and then I couldn't even come to talk to you! I'm really sorry about that first time, Rei, I know I must have made a terrible impression on you and brother was right to scold me afterwards but being as cruel as that damn Russian and not–"

There was some commotion and a crackling sound in the line then. "Hey Rei, this is Lee, how are you?"

The Chinese's eyes were big and his mouth stood slightly open, it took him a second to register that the fast-talking Mariah was gone for the moment and had been replaced by her calm and reassuring sounding brother. Oh,but he could still hear Mariah. This time it was her in the background demanding to get handed back her phone. "I'm good, I just… uh, so you are all working?" Of course they were, Rei thought. How stupid of him. They had to run a business after all.

"Yes, we are at the café right now but don't worry about it, I wouldn't have said anything to Mariah had I known it was you. We are always happy when we hear from you." There were even more background noises. Clattering of dishes maybe, and Mariah whining something in Chinese and another voice that was probably male, asking a question.

"I don't know I'll ask him. Hey, Rei, would it be alright if I handed the phone to Gonzo for a moment? He's our chef as I told you some time ago. He would like to talk to you for a second if that's okay with you?"

That came a bit unexpected and Rei was taken by surprise. He should talk to… another stranger? There was a very strained smile appearing on his lips and he wiped some dark hair out of his face. "Sure, it's ok, just give him the phone."

"Hello my friend." A man said in a rather deep but really smooth sounding tone. "I know you probably feel a bit awkward and don't really know what to say so I promise to not make you suffer for too long."

Rei blinked, he hadn't expected someone to actually think about how he was feeling in this situation. "Oh, uhm, it's quite alright, I'm used to talking to people I don't seem to really know after all. It happens every other day. " He made a meek attempt to sound funny but he was sure he had failed with that miserably.

The man on the other line laughed nonetheless but maybe he was just trying to express sympathy or he was pitying him… somehow that thought didn't sit well with Rei."Quite alright, eh? No need to try and be considerate, no one is holding anything against you, we all just want you to recover soon and if you decide to do so maybe even come back. It was always a pleasure working together and especially Mr. Rudolph misses his feeder."

Mr. who? Mr. Rudolph… a strange feeling was suddenly overcoming him and his nose tingled and his chest felt tight when a sudden image of yellowish eyes... "The cat?" The words left his mouth in almost a whisper and he wasn't even sure if he had actually said it out aloud before the man's laughter reached his ear again.

"Yeah, that's right, I guess you were already told about your little pal and - ah I should give the girl back the phone before she's trying to claw out my eyes. Get better Rei and remember you'll always have a place here, you're not just our colleague but our friend as well."

"Ah…" Rei didn't compose himself fast enough to really reply something to that and then Mariah was back. "Finally! I cannot believe this. You called to talk to me and then everyone snatches away my cell." She said in a somewhat pouty tone before her voice became more normal again. "So Rei, how are you really? Do you feel better? Are you bored a lot? You must be quite bored lying in this room all day."

Rei wasn't quite sure which question he was supposed to answer and he felt already stressed again and then there was the thing with Mr. Rudolph… his heart was thumping quickly… had he actually… "Well, it's quiet." At least when Tyson and Max weren't there to bug him, or Kai, or the doctor, the nurses… he sighed. "Sometimes it's good to have some peace."

"Oh, of course, you must feel overwhelmed by everything. You don't remember much of a thing and then just all comes rushing down on you… I'm so sorry for you Rei. I just wish there was something I could do to be there for you! Just because Kai owns half of the place doesn't mean he…"

Rei frowned and decided to be rude himself for once and interrupt her. "He owns what?" Did she mean the hospital? The Russian owned half of the hospital? That couldn't be true!

"Ah, not really owning it but since he pays for all the expenses, it's not… yes! I know! Just a second, alright?! I don't know when I'll be able to – yeah! I said I was coming in a minute! I'm sorry Rei but I don't have much time anymore. The café is full today and two of the waiters called in sick." Mariah explained, her voice sounding regretful and a bit whiny again.

Rei was still too occupied with the task of comprehending what he had just heard to really feel bothered by that though. Kai, the Russian,_ Kai_, he was paying for all the expenses, he really was… "Sure, I understand, don't worry." He mumbled not having actually listened to anything she had said after… he had been paying for him for how long? During all these eight months now? Why, and… this was all too goddamn much!

"Okay then… maybe you could call me again sometime later? I'm finished at work at around six, there's so much I would like to talk to you about."

"Uh huh." Did that mean the Russian was rich? He had to be… the suit… the expensive clothes… even the way he had always smelled… wait! When had he even noticed that?! He shook his head. So, what had Mariah said just now?

"That's so great!" She suddenly squealed and Rei pushed the phone away from his ear again. "You are the best! AHH!! Yes, I'm coming, coming! Bye ReiRei." The conversation ended rather abruptly with a click.

Uh what?! He was the best? What had he just agreed to? Hopefully nothing he would regret later on… but damn! How should he have been able to still properly concentrate after… he had just wanted to make a simple phone call and now he felt more troubled than ever. Was it possible… had he just remembered something? Mr. Rudolph. The cat. He had known the chef was talking about a cat and he didn't think Lee had said anything about… he shouldn't get too excited. Maybe he had mentioned it after all? Or one of the others... Cat, cat, Mr. Rudolph was a black cat with yellowish eyes.

Oh god! Oh god! He could almost see it now. Was he going crazy? Was that the breakthrough he had been waiting for?! Should he tell someone or better wait? No, no he shouldn't tell anyone, not yet. That would undoubtedly just increase the pressure on him. What if that was all he would ever remember? A cat, that was nothing that special, right? Maybe the others would even be disappointed? That he had thought about a cat but not them…

And there was still another problem he had to deal with. A problem with the name of Kai Hiwatari. If what Mariah had said was actually true… but it would explain things, right? Why the girl hadn't been able to contact him without the Russian's consent. If he was paying for everything the hospital would heed his words. Still… why would he even do that? Truly close friends, Max had said that, he and Kai had been truly close friends. Well, he guessed if he himself was rich and had a truly close friend he would help him out as well but… he still had major troubles getting his head around that. There had to be some other reason. Maybe the Russian felt guilty? That he hadn't been able to prevent the accident from happening? He had gone after Rei that day and witnessed the whole thing… perhaps that had caused some kind of guilt complex? Nah, the Russian hadn't appeared to be especially guilty, rather… angry and impatient and grumpy. If he didn't even like Rei though, then why… there were a few things he had to clarify, that much was sure.

There was a sudden knock on the door and then it swung open. "Mr. Kon? I came to check up on you again." The words made Rei's blood freeze and he wished to be at a place somewhere far far away from here. The doctor didn't seem to be aware of his patient's distress and tipped with his pen against a notepad whilst giving the room an observing glance. He appeared to be quite self-satisfied. "As I see your friends have already left. That's a commendable thing. I advised them to not linger around for too long hindering your recovery."

The Chinese wanted to pull his covers over his head when the doc's eyes returned to him and he hastily interlaced his fingers to make sure he wouldn't really do it. "How are you feeling now, Mr. Kon? It's been a day since you fainted and your stats seem to be better again. Not fantastic but the prospect of improvement is given."

Rei refrained from rolling his eyes. Whatever that meant now. "Yeah, actually, I'm really feeling fine again and I don't think it's necessary to watch me that closely anymore."

The grey haired man lifted an eyebrow at him. "So, you are a doctor now, Mr. Kon?"

Oh hell! Of course he wasn't a freaking doctor, he just wanted the freaking doctor to stop giving him the creeps at least twice a day! "No, all I wanted to say is… I'm feeling fine." Rei mumbled, giving up. What was to come now – he couldn't change it anyway. He was a weak creature compared to the doc's endless stamina in talking and probably everything else.

.

.

Now, Rei thought, now was his chance. The next time the doctor would make a small pause he would do it. He would ask him about the Russian and his money, inquire if it was actually true that Kai, the bastard Kai, was paying his expenses. He had been wondering all along how it was possible for him to afford to have such a big room and personal nurses and… just all this fancy stuff and the good caring. It just hadn't really made sense and maybe he had even been a bit blinded concerning that topic.

"… you see this is already a small progress in comparison to how your reflexes were functioning last week. If you keep up the good work with your physiotherapist it's just a matter of time until your muscles will have strengthened enough to burden them with more activity again."

There had been certain signs that something was going on that he didn't really know about but like with so many other things that issue had been held away from him, but he wouldn't have this anymore. He would start getting to hear the things he wanted to and he would start it right now!

"Yes, and there's some- "

"I have another topic I wanted to address. Is it possible, Mr. Kon, that you somehow frightened one of the younger nurses?" The doctor just kept on talking like he hadn't even registered the Chinese had tried to give his input.

Rei froze. He had done what?! _Frightened_ one of the nurses? How should… when… oh… That young nurse he had chased off that day she had offered to pick up the albums… had it really been _that_ bad? "F-frightened?" Rei approached the topic carefully. "How would I have done that?" He tried to smile rather innocently.

The doctor simply shrugged unimpressed whilst drawing a circle with his pen. "It just got to my attention that one of the nurses is refusing to enter your room. No one really has an idea what happened and her stubbornness is just a nuisance for the other staff members because they have to constantly rearrange the schedules. So whatever issue it is you have with that girl, maybe you could try and solve it when I send her up to serve you dinner."

"I cannot encourage this kind of behavior from my workforce. Personal disputes shouldn't be a reason to neglect work duties - or is there something about that issue you want to share with me, Mr. Kon? If one of my nurses behaves inappropriate I would prefer getting informed about this. I am an old man but I'm still aware of the forces that drive the youth and I noticed the deer eyes the nurses were giving you. I know this can be seen as flattering by a man your age but this is a hospital and not a dating agency, so I would recommend you to keep the flirting to a minimum. That ensures that interactions are kept on a professional level as it is supposed to be at a place for healing."

Rei was sure his face was burning bright red by now. What did the doctor try to make out of him here? A molester? And what did he mean the nurses were giving him deer eyes? They were just trying to be friendly, weren't they?

The older man was giving him a stern look, seemingly not noticing – or caring for – his predicament at all. "Do we agree on this, Mr. Kon?"

Rei just nodded stupidly. He really could find nothing to say right now. He was too busy feeling sorry for himself.

Obviously his doc still wasn't willing to leave him off the hook just yet. "So, it's alright with you, Mr. Kon, that I send you the young nurse to solve the issue?"

The Chinese nodded again, sinking even deeper into depression. Why him? What horrendous crime had he committed to deserve all this?

The doctor took a glance at his watch. "All right then, it appears we are done for today. I'll be taking my leave now and wish you a restorative late afternoon. I'm not sure if we will be seeing each other tomorrow for my own schedule is quite stuffed but if not, one of my colleagues will be taking very good care of you." The older man nodded in his usual gesture of goodbye. "Rest well, Mr. Kon."

The moment the door had closed behind the retreating man, Rei did the only thing he could think of then. He made a grab for his blanket and hauled it over his head.

.

.

The girl was shaking. Her hands, the plate she was carrying, it was shaking. Now he truly felt bad. Had he really been such a monster? "M -Mr. Kon, I brought your meal, is it alright if I put it on, on the table?" She sounded timid and she couldn't even look at him. What had he said? What had he just said?

"Uhm, of course, thank you! I mean, really, that's… nice." Great, now he was sounding like an idiot. It made her look at him though, shyly. He forced himself to smile widely - it made his face hurt - and he was sure now he also looked like an idiot, she must have thought that as well with the way she was blinking at him in irritation. But then, wonder oh wonder, the miracle happened and she started to slowly smile as well whilst walking closer to place the plate on the table. Wow, that had gone rather smoothly. Rei didn't really know why but he felt rather pleased with himself. Maybe he should say something more? He looked at her nameplate.

"Really, thank you, Mrs. Sanders, I know I wasn't especially friendly the last time… I had a really bad day…" He tried to explain sounding apologizing. He really must've gone a bit too far…

The nurse just stared at him with big eyes before going all red in the face and Rei was beginning to doubt himself. Had he said something wrong yet again? But what… "It's Erica." The girl suddenly piped out and this time it was the Chinese that blinked in irritation.

"I mean, please call me Erica, Mr. Kon, and you don't need to apologize. I, I understand. I'm sorry I caused so much trouble." She gazed at the ground obviously feeling ashamed about her behavior.

The Chinese wasn't quite sure what was going on now but he knew it wasn't alright that she blamed herself for something he had messed up. "No, no trouble at all, just… let's simply forget about all this, alright? And you can just call me Rei, we're about the same age anyway, aren't we?"

She nodded slowly whilst biting in her lower lip still appearing a bit insecure but her whole expression had brightened up somewhat. "I… I'm four months younger actually."

Huh? Uh alright… not that he had really needed to know that information but at least she wasn't scared of him anymore. Task completed, right? But why did she even know when his birthday was…

"Do you need anything else, Mr. Ko – I mean, Rei?" The girl with the name of Erica Sanders was pulling up her shoulders, smiling at him again warily but with a happy glimmer in her eyes.

At exactly that moment Rei had an idea. "Could I… could I maybe ask you something?"

Erica nodded enthusiastically, well for her anyway. "Of, of course."

"This room." Rei made a round motion with his finger. "Whose paying for it?"

It seemed he had overrun her a little bit with the content of his question for her forehead furrowed and she stared at him in bewilderment.

"That's… I don't think, we're not really supposed to…" She clamped her mouth shut again the moment she realized what she had just said and blushed furiously.

They weren't supposed to? They weren't supposed to damn what?! Tell him? Freaking why? This really was starting to piss him off now. He frowned a bit darkly. "You mean you aren't allowed to? Why not?" He demanded to know.

The young nurse was apparently becoming more than just a bit uneasy now as she stepped further away from him, casting an insecure glance to the door. "I c -cannot… I'm sorry, but I don't want to lose my job." She tried to explain sounding meek and rather pitiful and she kept rubbing over her left arm with her right hand.

What?! She could lose her damn job, because… because? Just because she said something she wasn't supposed to?! For a moment Rei was tempted to just pressure on. She didn't seem to be that strong-willed, maybe he could get her to crack, but then he would have to deal with a guilty conscience yet again, and it had tormented him enough today already. He sighed, feeling a little drained all of a sudden. "Ah, alright, it's fine. I don't need anything else then." With that said Rei saw her as dismissed. He had decided he wouldn't try to exploit her but in that case she was not really of any use to him at all.

"Oh." She let her right arm fall down again. "O-okay, I'll be seeing you tomorrow then… Rei." She attempted to give him a last somewhat strange little smile and then hushed out of the door.

The Chinese stared after her for a moment unblinking._ Weird_ but some people were just that as Rei had already noticed a while ago. Not that he had time to think about that now, he had a more urgent problem and he had a feeling that would occupy most of the space in his brains for a while longer...

.

.

"Is it true that Kai is paying for my hospital stay?" Rei had decided to not beat around the bush and go for the direct approach. That one question had cost him all sleep last night and he wouldn't ever feel satisfied again before he wouldn't know the answer to it.

The finger-twitching Max and the loudmouthed Tyson were sharing a look that spoke volumes and already did enough to confirm what had only been a suspicion so far, but the Chinese wouldn't be content with that, he wanted to hear the words coming out of their mouths – well, one mouth would be enough, and he could make a good guess who of the two of them would blab out something first.

"Erm, where have you heard that?" Max asked after a moment of silence.

Rei was staring at them with a remorseless glimmer in his golden orbs. It was their own fault that they had been the first to come and visit him here this morning. "Mariah."

"Whoa, Kai's so gonna snap her neck for that." Tyson commented nonchalantly and Max closed his eyes for a second in despair. If Rei hadn't already known beforehand that it was actually true, he would do that now.

"Why didn't anyone tell me?!" He snapped, unable to really control the frustration and annoyance he had felt within these last hours anymore – days even. He was being treated like a stupid fool and no one seemed to even care about that!

"Don't be mad, Rei." The blond was quick to try and appease him. "We didn't do it to anger you, it was just… it was Kai's decision and for the moment we all agreed on respecting his wishes and the doctor had said too much stress would be bad for you, but we didn't feel good about having to keep things from you."

So they were really all in this. A huge fucking big conspiracy!!! Alright, maybe he was exaggerating a little bit… just a little bit though! And what did he mean with_ things_?! "So this isn't all, eh? What else is there you chose to rather not tell me?" The Chinese asked unkindly, his eyes narrowing down.

The blond froze, an expression of dismay wandering over his features. "No, no I didn't mean it like that… I just…" Max rubbed his sweaty palms together, trying to gain back some control over himself and the situation.

"What Max wanted to say is, we were just looking out for you, Rei. And that Kai has problems admitting that he has a soft side and can be really kind and generous is something you probably should discuss with himself. What you should know though, is that no one was trying to go behind your back and intentionally hurt you. You are our friend and we care for you and we just wanted to do what's best, s' all."

The Chinese and Max stared at Tyson in shock alike. Hell, when had he learned to pull off such a speech?

"That's right." The blond approved sending Tyson a thankful and maybe even proud smile before he looked back at Rei. "It honestly never was our intention to make you feel deceived."

The man in the hospital bed pulled a face and crossed his arms over his chest. Yeah, right because they were his friends…

"Pleaaase, Rei, don't be mad at us anymore." The cap-wearer whined childishly and the Chinese was asking himself if he had just dreamed that Tyson had said something that at least had sounded to some extent mature only moments earlier. "We love you so much, we don't want you to not talk to us anymore and glare at us like a vengeful cat with those yellow eyes of yours."

Had that kind of behavior functioned with the old Rei? Because frankly spoken, the Chinese had a feeling an artery on his forehead was going to burst soon. And had the loudmouth just called him a cat?!

"Uh Tyson, Rei looks a bit thirsty, wouldn't you agree? We should go and get him one of those fruit drinks we saw on that stand outside." Max sounded slightly nervous, having obviously felt the waves of slaughtering intent the Chinese was giving off at the moment.

As always the cap-wearer had stayed oblivious to the danger. "Huh? But Maxie, I'm sure they're pumping him up with vitamins all day and he is feeling fed up with the stuff already and if he really wants a drink it would be enough for one of us to go, right? I'll just wait here and entertain Rei some more, after all we have to make things up to him, right? We can't have him pouting all day."

The Chinese was well aware of the fact that he wouldn't be able to walk but Tyson was not standing too far away. Maybe he would manage to throw himself out of the bed with enough drive to bring him down with him.

"Ah hah, now Rei really looks thirsty and I definitely need your help carrying everything!" Having spoken these words, Max grabbed Tyson around the wrist and pulled him after him and out of the door, ignoring his outcry of protest.

"Wait! We don't even know what kind of flavor Rei would prefer to ha…" Tyson's voice died away outside on the corridor and Rei forced his hands to relax again having just noticed for the first time how painful his nails had been digging into his palms the whole time.

Those two loonies! They'd better not be coming back here for at least… half a millennium! Rei doubted he would be able to calm down enough even in this time period to be able to talk to them again without totally losing it. What was everyone here thinking anyway? How could the old Rei have been able to deal with all that and would he have done a better job than him? Because he knew for a fact that it all was starting to make _him_ feel rather desperate!

And Kai… oh how he wished the Russian would be here right now. He really was in the right mood to give him a piece of his mind! Besides, why hadn't he shown up yet? He surely wasn't afraid of Rei still being mad at him because of their argument that had led to his fainting in the end. He snorted. No, surely not that. The Russian wasn't the type to be afraid of a confrontation. Kind and generous… kind and generous… it was just too much for him to take in right now.

He hadn't really had a headache this morning but now the first signs were already showing again. A pressure behind the eyes and a dull throbbing at his right temple. He took a deep breath and released it slowly. It would be fine, he would sort this all out. Somehow he certainly would. And just for the records, he was _not _looking like a damn vengeful cat!


	5. Chapter 5

See other chapters for Disclaimer.

Thanks a lot for everyone's feedback!

* * *

"So, they sent you to try and conciliate with me again now, eh?" Rei asked, sounding rather snotty as he watched Tyson's older brother taking a seat on the chair next to his bed. Said man showed no sign of taking offense, however, and just kept smiling whilst he gave him a small shrug.

"It's the hard burden of being the eldest person in a group," he explained in a confident tone and the Chinese already felt that certain tinge of sympathy coming through, he had always become aware of when being in the presence of Hiro Granger. He could not allow for it to hinder his determination this time, though. He had the right to know what was going on around him, especially if it did concern him personally. And who paid or didn't pay his expenses, for example, was certainly a matter that concerned him on a personal level entirely.

"Uh huh, so let me hear your speech then."

Hiro laughed openly before he nodded, a certain enthusiastic glimmer visible in his eyes. "I indeed thought about writing down a few words that sounded rather impressive and memorize them… but then I realized that that would be complete nonsense, because I trust you to be smart enough on your own to already know why we have done what we did."

Rei showed a small frown. "Are you trying to flatter me?" Was that meant to do the deal and somehow appease him? If so that really would be strange. The Chinese hadn't figured Hiro to be the kind of person that would work with tricks as such, but then again, what did he know, really?

Hiro shook his head and his facial expression became more serious, even though his eyes were still smiling at Rei. "No, I don't need to flatter. I'm just stating my honest opinion, but I have to admit I was rather relieved when I noticed that, even though you lack a lot of memories as to this moment, it hasn't really affected the capability of your brains."

Wow, was Tyson's brother just telling him he was glad he hadn't turned out to be a total retard in the end? He couldn't really explain why, but for some reason that made Rei smile a bit mischievously. "Now I definitely think you are trying to flatter me," he stated and then realized he had just made some sort of joke at his own expense – and he didn't mind. In fact, he wasn't feeling quite as annoyed – oh damn! Seemed Hiro had already somewhat succeeded in appeasing him and he didn't even have to work for it!

The older man winked at him and leaned back in his chair. "And that's just another thing that shows you haven't really left us." It took a moment for Rei to comprehend the sentence but when he did he drew in a deep breath, silently listening to Hiro's next words that were spoken with a voice that suddenly had become very calm. "At times you're afraid of that, aren't you?"

Hiro's eyes were looking at him calmly but with an intensity that made Rei's skin crawl. Bloody hell! How had they come from that to… _this_. Rei was sure he hadn't said anything about it – ever. So how could he… when had he… God, Hiro was sharp. Too sharp maybe, and Rei felt slightly over challenged in a way… he just didn't know… he hadn't expected him to be… damn!

"You don't need to say anything." Tyson's older brother made sure to reassure him, obviously having noticed some of his inner predicament. "It's just logical that you have fears after what's happened to you. Everyone would be afraid of being thrown into your situation, and I know it's hard sometimes for the others to imagine the difficulties you have to deal with, because they are used to a Rei that carries all of the world's problems, without complaint and with a smile on his lips."

Rei's gaze slightly darkened at that. They were used… they were used to a Rei that did this and that, and… he carried all of the world's problems, smiling? What kind of person could do something like that??! Surely not him, because he wasn't…! Damn again!!

Tyson's older brother shook his head. "I didn't mention this to make you feel bad. I just want you to be able to better understand what's going on in the heads of the people around you. I'm not saying it is right for them to think that way, but I know my little brother especially, and he really has problems getting it into his scull that things have changed, but that it isn't a disaster. You have the right to have changed after the accident, and the pressure you must feel because of that is a regrettable thing."

The Chinese simply stared at the other man then without blinking, and his heart was beating quite loudly in his chest and ears. He had the right to have changed? Could it really be that simple? His eyes wandered down to his hands for a moment before his head came up again. "But they… they all expect me to remember!" Rei blurted out suddenly and he couldn't suppress the accusing undertone in his voice. They expected him to be the person they wanted him to be, and that became more apparent to him every new day that went by, and deep inside it made him feel...

Hiro nodded. "I know they do, but it's hard to blame them for wishing things could just go back to normal. You shouldn't worry about it too much, though. There will come a point when they will realize there's no gain at all in trying to push you. I won't lie, of course we would all be happy if you'd be able to remember us again, but some things can only be achieved with strength and patience." He smiled then. "But I can reassure you, even if they sometimes might not be aware of it yet, they all possess plenty of that."

They all did possess plenty… what about him, though? Did he possess any of it? Strength and patience? He didn't know. He really didn't know that.

"And I'm also not worrying about you, you always made your way no matter what, and it's my belief that, even if a person is to lose his memory the truly essential things about him won't change."

Oh really? The Chinese thought, feeling somewhat bitter again. It was possible that he was the one to prove him wrong there.

"Maybe you're doubting my words right now, but then let's talk about this again in a few months or so… I really like being correct sometimes, you know?" The older man was suddenly looking quite smug.

Rei smiled a bit strained. "Well, I guess then you're really glad to have Tyson as a brother."

Hiro laughed outright at that. "You bet I am. So, now go on ahead and ask me why Kai is paying for your hospital stay."

Again the Chinese was left to stare. Over everything he had almost forgotten… God, he never wanted to have Hiro as an opponent in a fight of the wits… or something. He suddenly felt really tired again. "Oh yeah, so why is Kai paying for my expenses?"

"Because he wants to," Hiro answered immediately with a strange smile on his lips.

Rei blinked. Because he wants to? Wha… that was it?!! "Uhm, and why would he… " The Chinese shrugged and made a vague gesture with his hand. He didn't really have to properly formulate that question, right?

Tyson's older brother just went on smiling in that very strange way of his, and somehow that really irritated the Chinese. "Because you two are friends, and believe it or not, Kai watches out for his friends, and we are all very thankful that he does, as none of us would have been able to give the funds to ensure that you would have been taken care of so well as at this place."

Wham. Somehow Rei felt slightly face slapped here. It was not that he had not noticed his treatment had been kind of special in a way… okay, it was true that anyone here was ready to jump and fulfill his wishes… he just had thought that was kind of normal in a hospital? Maybe? After all, hospitals were supposed to make people better, right? Even though he, of course, was aware that therefore you didn't need quite such a fancy room and… okay, okay, he got it!!

"So… he's really rich then?" The Chinese asked kind of meekly. He had been really angry at the Russian for being so… well, frankly spoken, for being an ass, but they all had told him the old Rei and Kai had been friends… he _wanted_ to pay for him… Rei actually had some troubles getting his head around that momentarily.

Hiro gave him a sympathetic look but luckily refrained from commenting on Rei's rather beaten gaze. "His family owns a highly respected company in Russia, and they also have branches in other countries like here in America."

Rei's mind was reeling by then. Wow, so Kai really was… highly respected? That was another way of saying he was really rich, right? Well, maybe not really him but his family… well, Kai was a part of his family so that would make him rich as well. Highly respected… "That means he's really rich, right?"

Tyson's older brother was suppressing an amused chuckle and the Chinese felt his cheeks go hot because he had realized just how daft he must have sounded right now. What had Hiro said before? He was glad Rei's brain seemed to still function appropriately? After this conversation he surely would be ready to take that back and declare Rei a retard after all. "Well, I think if Tyson ever manages to take a peek at his bank account he will probably faint instantly."

Ah… but then… suddenly a thought shot into Rei's head. "But then, why is he living with me? I mean, if he's that rich and all… he could manage to afford an apartment on his own, couldn't he?" So, why should he want to be Rei's flatmate? Oh god, maybe Rei had been pitifully broke, and Kai had offered to take him in… cared for his friends… no, no! He had been working at that café, right? He surely had earned a wage there… yes, yes, everyone who worked got at least some money out of it! He couldn't have been a freeloader?!!

Hiro sighed good-naturedly and placed one of his legs over the other. "Kai never cared that much for money, like a lot of people believe that might not know him well. Admittedly though, it's a bit hard to really get to know him, as his personality can be… difficult at times."

Inwardly Rei snorted. Say what. Difficult – at times? He noticed then that his hand had moved rather unconsciously to rub over his forehead. Hiro's next statement made Rei quite literally freeze, though. "You two had had your difficulties at the beginning as well, but in the end you got along rather well, if not to say quite perfectly. Actually, I think you were the one that suggested Kai could get a room in your apartment he could use whenever he came here from Russia, as he didn't really like staying at hotels that much…"

Slowly, very slowly Rei's hand sank down again, and a quiet voice in the back of his head was whispering to him 'Breathe, breathe'. The Chinese smiled then in a way that he probably would have described as rather mental would he have been able to see his face at that moment. "I suggested it?" He asked for confirmation.

Hiro smiled knowingly, suppressing a grin again and nodded. "Yep, and I think you both were quite satisfied with that solution."

Rei said nothing to that. He wouldn't have known what to answer anyway. They both had been satisfied. Oh well, wasn't that fantastic? Obviously the old him had liked Kai. Had even liked him enough to offer him a room at his own living place. So that meant… they had to have been friends… and really good ones at that. Kai wanted to pay for him… That brought another question in his head alive, though. What kind of a person must he have been – the old Rei – to get along so greatly with an individual like Kai? The Russian was rude, uncommunicative and arrogant. He had argued with him, insulted him, and… he had really looked concerned shortly before Rei had fainted because of his headache… and afterwards he had insulted him again, if not right to his face, and now he was feeling really, really tired again.

"All a bit much?" Tyson's older brother asked, a truly sympathetic expression gracing his features. Rei could do nothing but nod stupidly, and he didn't care one bit if at that moment this could make him appear retarded.

"That's okay, it would be a bit much for anyone I presume, but maybe that makes you even more able to understand why your friends are not willing to throw everything at you and all at once. We will try to find a better balance for everything, though." Suddenly Hiro almost jumped up from his chair. The dynamic energy in their blood was definitely something the two Granger brothers shared.

"Good, that being said, I think I'll give you some time to properly rest and process the things I've just told you." He winked again. "Oh, and don't be too hard on the little idiot and his best friend, alright? We all meant well, but I can see now that maybe it wasn't the best way to try and handle things, but you have to be a bit forgiving towards us, after all this is the first time we are in such a situation as well."

Was that supposed to make Rei feel better? Well, it wasn't exactly funny… seemed Hiro had noticed that as well. "Not a really good one, eh?" He asked, making a face.

Rei shook his head, but finally had to smile a little. "Ah, seems I'm not cut out to become the joker in our family. That really is Tyson's métier, even though most funny things he does and says happen involuntarily."

The Chinese cleverly refrained from answering to that, but the last look the two men shared, before Tyson's older brother said his last goodbyes and exited the room, was one of genuine understanding.

.

.

Wha.. oh, bright!! Rei hauled his eyes shut again, whilst laying his palms over his face to ensure the darkness would remain, and moaned slightly.

"Sorry, Rei, I didn't mean to wake you up, but you were looking rather unhappy in your sleep."

Chinese words… oh, yeah, it was Lee's voice… wake him up? So he had been asleep? Rei blinked his eyes open again. Oh damn, bright! "That's okay… hadn't planned on sleeping anyway." He mumbled because no, he hadn't wanted to sleep but rather take his time to heed Hiro's words and process the information he had been given. Seemed this whole processing procedure had really taken its toll on him though. God, why did it have to be so bright in here?"

"What did you dream about?" Lee inquired, stepping back from his bed but not bothering to sit down on a chair.

"Oh… erm… actually, I don't think I really remember." Everything in Rei's head was just a blurry mess, and when he tried to… no, nothing there. There was no visual image left of his dream, all that had remained was a feeling he rather chose not to think about too thoroughly. Dreams were a rather strange concept to him anyway. Sometimes he had the impression that whilst dreaming he was telling himself to hold onto something almost desperately, but whenever he woke up it was just gone. To be frank, there was not one dream he had had yet of which he could truly remember what it had been about. He seemed to dream a lot about colors, though. Color's that were flowing into each other before becoming all grayish and ugly. He didn't like dreaming that much, it always left him with a not so good feeling… he rather just plainly slept without knowing that he had dreamt at all.

"Oh, alright." Lee dismissed the topic easily before darting him a more serious look. "I heard there have been some troubles. I came to seek out your forgiveness should we have managed to truly anger you. It was no one's intention to appear inconsiderate of your feelings, but it's difficult to respect everyone's wishes."

Rei blinked again and tried to wipe the sleep out of his eyes. "No, it's okay." He sighed. "Hiro was here earlier, and we talked… I think I understand some things better now." It was true after all. He did understand things better now, and maybe he also didn't feel quite as keen on knowing everything – and all at once - anymore. Maybe it was indeed better to take smaller steps. He had not thought knowledge could be such an exhausting thing… Rei suddenly frowned. "What do you mean, everyone's wishes?"

Lee shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, just imagine a group of people in which everyone has his own ideas how things should or shouldn't be accomplished, some voicing them subtly, and some…" He frowned, obviously thinking about something unpleasant. "A lot more bluntly."

Rei got an idea then about what the other Chinese must be referring to, and a certain feeling of guilt was slowly invading his guts. "Ah, I guess you all went through quite some troubles because of me." After his conversation with Tyson's older brother he had used the time (well, the time until he had fallen asleep obviously) to try and think about the situation of the people around him for a change, and he then had realized that maybe, whilst sinking deeper into self pity he had neglected keeping in mind that it had to be quite hard on them as well sometimes...

"Don't be stupid, Rei," Lee declared simply. "It's not your fault some people don't have it in them to behave mature, and some… were born stubborn goats. Maybe that's the Russian winter. I heard when you're truly unlucky it can damage the brains."

Rei drew a brow. Russian winter, eh? So obviously Lee had not really settled his dispute with Kai… because of Mariah… and for some reason Rei could also imagine the Russian would be even less happy with her, hearing that she had told Rei that Kai… wait, why should he have a problem with that? But the way they had behaved and what that nurse Erica had told him… "Uhm, he didn't really want me to know that he is paying for my hospital stay, did he?"

The standing man gave him a long strange look before he answered. "No, but don't ask me why, alright? Not because I don't want to answer, I just have no problem admitting to what the Russian is thinking goes over my head sometimes, but he didn't want us to tell you, so we didn't, as we all feel that we owe him in a way." He shrugged. "When he's back he should refrain from blaming Mariah for everything, though. She didn't tell you intentionally, and it's not her fault that she can be impulsive sometimes. She's still young, but she will learn."

Rei blinked. "Kai's gone?" Why was out of everything this the information that struck him the most? It was just - alright, maybe he had felt slightly bad because of the way he had treated the Russian before, not that it wasn't deserved… but knowing that someone did – _that_ for you maybe could change your perspective – if only in some way… damn, he had just wanted to talk to Kai and set a few things right between them – that was an understandable thing, wasn't it?

The other Chinese's gaze became quite dark then. "Yes, he took a flight back to Russia yesterday. Some business he said, but I don't really know what kind of business couldn't wait for a while longer." It was obvious that Lee was displeased about that thought as well for some reason.

The man in the hospital bed thought about that for a moment. "But it's what he does, right? His work. I don't see why he should have to throw his life in total disorder because, well… I don't expect any of you to… it's nice that you all come here visiting me and all, but I don't expect…" Rei frowned unhappy with himself as he had troubles forming the right words even in his mother tongue as the reason was not that he couldn't find their right meaning.

"Don't bother and try to finish that string of sentences, Rei." Lee shook his head, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I guess something like that was prone to come from you at some point, but no good friend would let you phrase it without interruption. You may be right that his work is part of his life, as we all have work or things to do that are, but the more important parts of our lives are not the things we do to earn money, but the people we call our friends. And it's just honorable to place your friends on the first rank in your life. That is how I am viewing it at least."

The standing man spoke with determination in his voice and there was a shimmer in his eyes as soon as he was starting to talk about honor… Rei assumed there was a lot more to it than he would ever be able to truly fathom, but somehow, in a really strange way he felt… impressed.

And a certain notion overcame Rei that made him say… "I think I can be glad you call me your friend then."

Lee moved to stand closer to him again and then Rei felt a big hand on his shoulder squeezing it gently, whilst a pair of bronze eyes was looking right into his own golden ones. "You've always been my best friend, Rei, nothing's ever going to change that.

.

.

Oh great! It seemed that he had managed to fuck another thing up, having promised Mariah to call her again after work – when had that even happened? – and then just not doing it (well, of course not, he couldn't even remember that promise…). He couldn't very well claim, though that the girl had just made it up – not in front of Lee anyway and maybe he was vaguely aware of… oh, who was he trying to convince here? He had no clue what he had said to her at the end of their phone conversation, or what she had said to him for the matter… he had been busy thinking – about Kai who was rich, apparently. Which was good, for him anyway, as this probably was the reason that he was even still alive… maybe he shouldn't think quite as pessimistic. Maybe the advanced technology and great hospital staff at this place had not singularly kept him alive, but also… yeah what? His will to wake up again? What will when he didn't even remember if he had any reason to have wanted to wake up again… ahhh, complicated stuff!

So, back to the main topic, if there even was something as that. He had forgotten to call back Lee's sister and she had obviously taken that not very well… now he had to apologize again for something he did not even feel really guilty about… but Lee had called him his best friend… OH GOD!

That was just so not good in any way!! He didn't feel capable to be anyone's best friend. How could he even be a best friend in his condition? Best friends… well, not that he really had an idea what this whole best friend thing was about… not entirely but he had gotten the vague theory of that, having observed, for example, Tyson and Max interact with each other… there was… you could just feel the connection there, and they knew what to say to make the other react in certain ways… they just damn knew each other! And what did he know about Lee?? Just the things Lee himself or even any of the others had told him. That didn't count. It couldn't count.

So, now he was not only supposed to be friends with all of them but also a best friend of sorts, and this thought only made his head hurt more! They were all trying to be nice and supportive… even Kai… oh wow, he shouldn't go there at the moment. No, not there, when now, first of all he had to…

"Uhm, hey Mariah, it's me, uhm, Rei."

"Rei?" She sounded surprised, maybe even a bit happy, and the Chinese thought he maybe should better get it over with saying what he wanted to say, before he would lose his chance. He could recall how their last talk had went after all – well, obviously not all of it… urgh… "Yeah, hey I'm sorry for not not calling you yesterday, I guess. I somehow forg-"

"Oh, that's not a problem at all!" Mariah interrupted him, almost yelling into the receiver, and Rei slightly held it away from his ear again. "Did Lee tell you I was sad? I wasn't! I mean, yes of course I felt kind of bad that you didn't call, but it is not that I was sitting in front of the cell phone waiting for hours…" She laughed a bit awkwardly then, and the Chinese wasn't sure, if she had just been joking, or… "I mean, you don't have to feel guilty. I understand that not everything is all well with your head, and maybe you're still having troubles… just don't worry about it anymore, alright?"

Rei frowned. Now she sounded really cheerful, and what did she mean, he was still having troubles… he wasn't silly or anything… "Yeah, alright."

"Ah, I'm glad all's right between us again. I missed you so, ReiRei! I was damn angry at you for having that stupid accident! I really could've punched you when I heard of it! And then you kept sleeping for so long… do you know that there were even some reporters at the café? But Lee threw them out; he said he doesn't like these piranhas. Of course he's right with that, but maybe when you are feeling better… it's never a bad thing getting a certain publicity, and you would look soo good on the cover of a magazine. I mean anything beside these sports…"

Rei wasn't certain for a moment that this conversation was actually happening. It just appeared - quite surreal to him, honestly. "Mariah, uhm, sorry I need to hang up, the doctor just came in."

She sounded disappointed. "Oh, really? It's nothing bad, though, is it? Because if-"

The Chinese shook his head despite the fact that he knew there was no real sense in doing it, keeping in mind that Lee's sister could not actually see him. "No, no, nothing's bad. I just… I'll hear you later sometime, bye."

"But Re-"

The Chinese had pushed the button. Phew. What on earth… this girl was really a bit too much for him. Just… too much! How could anyone stand her voice, talking that fast, and… but she was the little sister of his best friend. Right. Lee. His best friend. He couldn't dislike Lee's sister. He just couldn't do that. It wasn't a thing best friends did. Max liked Tyson's brother. Okay, but that was not really… everyone liked Tyson's brother. Hiro was likeable and Mariah was… maybe he just needed to give it more time. He had grown up with her, he should be able to get used to her – ways again. He sighed and took a deep breath. This really was - quite a stressful day so far.

.

.

"No, Tyson, it's as I said. We're good; I might have overreacted a little bit." Rei pressed out between slightly clenched teeth. He had been prepared for the two loonies making a show when they would return, (and they had returned the very next morning, )but… he had reassured especially Tyson for the goddamned, he hadn't fucking counted it, but a damn big amount of times that things were okay between them, and right now, it was getting quite ridiculous, and if he needed to say it one more time… things could get ugly, they really could...

"Ah, c'mon, Tyson, leave Rei alone with this now. He said he has forgiven us, and you know he wouldn't lie about such things." Max was stepping into Tyson's field of view then, his fingers twitching a bit nervously as he had observed a certain glimmer in the Chinese's golden eyes.

"Jeez, Maxie, alright, I was just trying to make sure Rei isn't angry at us anymore, that's not a crime, is it? After all people can say stuff like they've forgiven you all the time, but they don't mean it seriously and then they are still angry at you and seethe in silence, and everything dams up in them until they cannot hold it in any longer, and it suddenly bursts to the surface, and then you have a much greater mess than you would have thought it possible in the beginning!" The cap-wearer explained enthusiastically without refraining from amplifying his speech with lots of noises and wide gestures.

"Tyson!" Max complained pushing away the other's arm with which he had almost accidentally slapped the blond in the face.

"What is it now, Maxie?" Hiro's little brother asked, sounding a bit annoyed since he obviously hadn't noticed that he could have become the reason for the blond man walking around with a shiner adorning his face.

Max sighed deeply. "Nothing, just calm down again, okay? And Rei isn't one of these people you just talked about. He doesn't… seethe until he bursts," he explained, slightly frowning about Tyson's earlier choice of words.

"Oh, he can seethe alright!" Tyson shouted out triumphantly, pointing a finger at Rei. "Remember that time I - without any evil intentions of course – tried to hook him up with that chick from the ice cream parlor? He didn't talk to me for two weeks. I mean two weeks, man?!!"

The blond slammed his palm against his forehead. "Tyson…" He moaned, sounding rather pained.

What was that now? Tyson had tried to hook him up with someone? Hook him up… that meant… oh! Why should he have needed someone helping him to get to know someone… and the cap-wearer?! That was a joke, right? But if not… was that really a reason not to talk to someone for two weeks? Maybe he simply hated ice cream? No, that couldn't really be it…

"What, Maxie? I was just saying…"

"I know but just shut up for a moment, alright?" Wow, the blond could sound rather determined if he really set his mind on it – or should Rei make that loud? Tyson crossed his arms, pouting. Max wiped through his hair and smiled a bit embarrassed. "Sorry… but don't get that wrong, okay, Rei? You had a reason for being mad at Tyson…" The cap-wearer opened his mouth then, but Max sent the other a rather fierce look. "Don't deny it; we all know what you were hoping to get out of it."

Hiro's little brother rolled his eyes. "Ah, c'mon, there's nothing wrong with a free bowl of ice cream once in a while…"

The blond shook his head. "Sometimes you really should be quite ashamed of yourself. Don't you ever think about what kind of impression that could make on others?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but if it had worked out between the two of them, you'd be the first to come with me hanging around at the parlor all day."

Max' ears were becoming quite red suddenly. "Tha… that's not true! And I wouldn't think about hooking my friends up with someone, because of ulterior motives anyway!"

Tyson gaped. "It wasn't just out of ulterior motives. After all she said that she really liked Rei! I just wanted to help get things started… I couldn't have known at that time that she wouldn't be his type!"

"Of course you should have known, we all did! And even if not, you just don't meddle with other people's business like that!"

"Aww, I just wanted to do him a favor, alright? He had just moved here, and didn't know that many people, and he didn't seem to get it when girls were flirting with him at the café… so I thought it would be a good idea to give her his number… I mean she was pretty, _and_ worked at the ice cream parlor!! Every guy would dream about a girlfriend like that!" Tyson looked like he was truly offended because his good deed just wouldn't be acknowledged by his best friend.

The Chinese frowned slightly. It seemed the two loonies were so engrossed in their argument that they had actually forgotten that he was here with them as well. At least it appeared that way, seeing that none of them spared him even a quick glance anymore. They were totally fixated on glaring at each other.

Max shook his head, his fingers twitching for another reason than nervousness this time. "You cannot force it, if she's not his type, though!"

Rei drew a brow at that. "So, what's my type then?"

The hospital room was suddenly filled with complete and utter silence, and then two heads came around, staring at him rather wide eyed.

Tyson coughed. "Uh, well, I guess, you… " He was making an awkward gesture with his hands again, and Max quickly jumped in to aid him.

"… like it complicated. The girl at the parlor was just… too nice for your taste."

"Yeah." Tyson picked up again, nodding more confidently. "You don't really like the nice type, and you called her a naïve goose… or something."

Rei's frown grew. He didn't like nice girls? He had insulted the ice cream parlor chick? Oh man, now he was also adapting to Tyson's way of speaking in his thoughts… "Uh huh," he contributed, sounding somewhat unsettled.

"Oh, Rei, buddy, don't feel bad about it, okay? I mean, it's not that you don't get them, you just don't want them. That's… cool! I wish that would happen to me sometimes…" The cap-wearer added in an afterthought.

Now it was on Max to roll his eyes. "Maybe your relationships would last a bit longer, if you learned to set your priorities right..."

Tyson waved him off. "It's not my fault if the chicks cannot keep up with me. I'm an independent, career-minded, young talent who needs his freedom to unfold his full potential."

Max just gave him a bored look. "Yeah, whatever."

The cap-wearer shook his finger at him. "You have no room for complaints, Maxie, last time I checked you didn't have a girlfriend, either."

The blond crossed his arms over his chest, moving his lips in a rather cute looking way. "That's what I meant when I said you shouldn't meddle with other people's business."

"You're my best bud, man. Your business is my business." Tyson declared as a matter of course.

It went on between the two loonies for a while longer then, but the Chinese's thoughts didn't really stay focused on the play. Rei was busy thinking about the picture of himself the others had just drawn him here. He was rude towards girls, and didn't like the nice ones… he wanted to have it complicated? Oh god, he had snapped at that nurse Erica… but that had happened totally by coincidence! Everyone could have come in and bothered him at that moment, and he would have lost it the same! Certainly… he wasn't a women insulter! The nurses here were nice! He was nice to them, and they liked him! At least he thought they did… of course they got paid and everything… he had worked at a café! You couldn't be a rude person working at a café… you could get fired for being rude, but Lee owned the place, and he was his best friend. You couldn't fire your best friend, even if he was to be a rude asshole, could you? Rei suddenly felt slightly panicked there. "Am I a rude person?"

"No, that's not what I was trying to say, you just – uh? What did you say, Rei?" Tyson asked and two pairs of eyes were looking at him rather questioningly. Was that possible? He thought they were here to keep him company. If they wanted to argue with each other all the time they could very well do that at home!

Rei was nearly glaring then, but that was good. His anger helped him to get over the fear of having been a rude contemporary that had caused troubles for his best friend who couldn't fire him because he had squeezed his shoulder, and told him he would be his best friend no matter what. "Am I a rude person?"

Tyson was fiddling around with his cap. "Eh? What do ya mean, if you're a rude person? You're you, Rei."

The blond sighed. "I don't think that answer is appropriate to what Rei's question actually involved, Tyson."

"Oh, yeah?" The cap-wearer replied, sounding insolent. "Then why don't you answer it, Mr. Know-It-All-Goody-Two-Shoes?"

Max sent Tyson a small glare, but then his gentle blue eyes found the Chinese's face, and his expression changed to a friendly one. "You're not a rude person, Rei. For a fact, you're very polite and well mannered, and sometimes Tyson would be really well advised to take you as an example." The blond darted out a side blow into the direction of the younger Granger brother.

"Oh man, Maxie, that was rude, man, and it wounded me deeply." He touched the place over his heart rather theatrically before he chuckled. "Seriously though, Rei, of course you are a great guy, otherwise I wouldn't be friends with you, but don't let them tell you shit. You might be polite in general, but if someone pushes your buttons you can become-"

"And you would know a lot about pushing buttons, wouldn't you?" The blond interrupted him unkindly, attempting to stare the other down. Obviously that really had some effect on Tyson.

"Yeah, well… right now, I guess, I'm pushing yours," he admitted, smiling mischievously. "So, I think it's time for me to shut up," he offered, and to everyone's surprise, well, Rei's surprise mainly, he really closed his lips after that.

Max smiled a soft satisfied little smile, and turned his attention back to the man in the hospital bed. "So, how about it, Rei? Accept it, if as a proper apology Tyson and I got you the very best ice cream in the whole City?"

The moment these words left the blonde's mouth, the cap-wearer's self-imposed muteness was in mortal danger, but Tyson managed to keep his mouth sealed rather heroically, even though he emitted quiet noises of excitement and rushed to grab the blonde's wrist to pull him towards the door.

The blond laughed and let himself get hauled along. "We'll be back in about half an hour!"

.

.

"That's really… good." Rei declared staring at the colorful paper cup in his hands in wonderment. He had not eaten anything like this before. They had allowed him a small portion of something they had called ice cream here in the hospital, but now he was sure it just couldn't have been the same thing, because if the other had tasted quite alright in his opinion, this ice cream was just… he was searching for the right words to describe it…

"Yeah, it's freaking fantastic, I know!" Tyson blurted out, watching him whilst grinning happily. "I bet now you even feel a tiny bit sorry that you didn't at least try to get along with the girl!"

Max moaned but laughed at the same time whilst shaking his head. "Tyson, give it a rest already."

"Yeah, yeah." The cap-wearer winked. "Just saying… Hey, Rei, do you want to try some of mine as well?"

The Chinese opened his mouth to eagerly agree, but he didn't need to say anything as Tyson who was sitting together with Max on his bed again, was already outstretching his paper cup towards him. Rei put his spoon into it, and then stuffed the creamy mass into his mouth. He hadn't known something could taste that… he blinked. "That's also… good." Wow, really good. No, he definitely didn't hate ice cream. Why couldn't he like nice girls? Maybe he had a chance now… after apologizing for having called her a naïve goose? He blinked again. This ice cream really was… good. He was pulled out of his dream like state when Tyson's loud laughter droned in his ears. "Man, Rei, you really look like… I dunno, but I wish we were allowed to bring our cells in here. I would have taken a picture and sold it for big money!"

Max gave the cap-wearer a light punch in the upper arm. "Don't be stupid, Tyson, and just let him enjoy his ice cream, alright? You wouldn't look any different by the way, if we starved you of it for only one week!"

"Yeah, what should I say? Ice cream's my life juice! It's just seldom to see Rei like this even before..." Abruptly Tyson appeared to become a bit anxious. "I mean, I'm just happy that we found something to make him happy with! I'm gonna bring him ice cream from now on every day!" He explained excitedly.

The blond shook his head but couldn't suppress the chuckle that escaped from between his lips. "The nurses are going to kill you for that."

"Ah, doesn't matter. I'd risk that to make Rei happy any time." Tyson's big smile was nearly splitting his face.

It was like… a curtain falling over Rei - kind of. He saw and heard the things that were happening right in front of him. There was some… some meaning to it all. The old Rei… his friends… they wanted to see him happy… where was that happiness, though? It was gone, it had simply vanished somewhere between him eating the first spoon of his ice cream and Tyson's laughter. He knew he should feel… probably warm somehow, and maybe… sheltered even? God, he had such caring friends, and… no, not he himself, Rei had… the polite, well-mannered Rei, who was a best friend, and enjoyed living together with the Russian… he suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe very well.

"Hey, Rei, everything alright, man? Something the matter with the ice cream?"

It took a lot from the Chinese to bring his head up to meet the cap-wearer's questioning gaze. "No, Tyson, the ice cream really is… good." He forced a small smile on his lips. The old Rei - he had carried the world's problems smiling…


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own Beyblade. Fiction.

Thanks for the feedback!

* * *

"Can I open-"

"No, not yet, Rei! Just a few more seconds, alright? Phew, who would have thought you can be that impatient…" Tyson mumbled complaining and Rei frowned darkly but still kept his eyes closed as the two loonies had told him to.

"Don't be that way, Tyson." The blond Max chided his best friend immediately. "After all he has no idea where we're heading to. It's just natural that he's a bit curious." Or make that afraid, the Chinese thought a bit gloomily.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah but we're almost there and it's supposed to be a damn surprise and I don't see how he will be surprised if he has his eyes open and can see where we are going." Oh, Rei was quite sure he would be surprised… if in a good way, though, that was the question that momentarily bothered him. Somehow he almost regretted that his doc had given them the go ahead to drive him around a bit in that new fancy wheelchair of his and no, that didn't make him feel like he was a damn invalid, he didn't feel that way at all…

The noises changed then rather suddenly and a whiff of fresh air was blowing right in his face. Had they brought him outside? But he remembered quite vividly that the doctor forbade them to leave the hospital. Not that making his doc happy was on his list of things he wanted to do soon. Yeah, he had made such a list. A silly little thing he had written down when he had been bored and didn't intend for anyone to see. Chances someone would understand it weren't exactly high anyway as he had written it in his mother tongue. It felt a lot easier to him doing things in his mother tongue. Speaking and thinking even, but he guessed that was just normal.

"Okay buddy, we're there!" The cap-wearer suddenly yelled enthusiastically, startling the man sitting in the wheelchair out of his thoughts. "Ready to open your eyes, man?!"

Rei sighed sullenly. "I've been ready since…" He forgot what he had wanted to say when his eyes took in the scenery around him. That was wow… a garden, or more something like a very very huge garden, though they still seemed to be inside the hospital. Yeah, he could make out the walls of the building, but… it had to be build like a square then, a square with a huge garden in the middle. A green garden with trees and lots of flowers. There were many different colors. Rei had fresh flowers every day in his room. A nurse brought them in the mornings… but this was different and he became aware of something warm on his skin… the sun…

"You like it?" Tyson asked sounding completely hyper. "We really wanted to do something you'd like and this was my idea, so you just have to like it!"

Rei could not really feel annoyed with him anymore. After all he did like it. He showed the two other young men a small smile. "Yeah, I like it, thanks."

"Woohooo!! Did you hear that, Maxie?! Rei thanked me!" The cap-wearer was laughing and yelling at the very same time.

The blond shook his head grinning. "I heard it, well done but now quiet down a bit okay? I'm sure there are other people out here that want to relax some."

The cap-wearer rolled his eyes. "I don't know if you noticed, man, but this is a fucking ass huge garden here and-"

"Tyson!" Max was obviously not completely happy with the other's choice of words.

"What? Oh… I wanted to say it's big, okay? It's damn big, right Rei?"

"Uh, seems that way, yeah. Could we…" He pointed. "Over there, it looks really inviting." A nice green sunny place surrounded by yellow and white flowers.

"Sure, of course!" Tyson nodded grabbing the wheelchair to push it in the direction Rei had told him to. "You are the boss, Rei, we go wherever you want to. Hey, do you, by chance, remember what your favorite flower is?"

The Chinese knew the cap-wearer didn't have ill intentions. After all almost one week had gone by since the last time Tyson had inquired about his state of memories. Seemed Hiro's little brother really was trying not to trouble him too much, but Rei could understand they wanted to see some progress… just that he couldn't give it to them. The breakthrough he had thought he maybe had had achieved by remembering about Mr. Rudolph, the cat, had turned out to not be a breakthrough at all and he was glad now that he hadn't told them. He just would have contributed to raise up their hopes… and his own, but that was a topic he'd rather not think about at the moment. "Sorry, Tyson." Rei smiled meekly, determined not to feel bad about it, though, and not wanting the others to feel bad about it either. "I think I like the yellow ones over there, though. Anyone knows what they are called?"

"Oh… oh that's…" Hiro's little brother darted a help-seeking gaze to his blond friend.

Max rubbed his head. "Uh, actually I have no idea." He laughed unbothered. "But you're right, Rei, they are really pretty. Maybe we can ask someone from the staff about them later."

The Chinese nodded but he didn't really care. He was used to experiencing new things by now without knowing everything about them. He could live with the fact that it was just a pretty yellow flower, he didn't need to know its name to decide he liked it. What had been his favorite flower, though? Before the accident… in another life, as it almost appeared to him now…

.

.

Rei blinked and yawned and…huh? Why was it so warm… oh yeah, the sun but there was no sun in his room, was there? Oh and where was his bed… what…

"So, you're awake again." A calm but deep sounding voice stated as a matter of fact. The Chinese's heart made a jump and then he was wide awake.

Yes, of course, there wouldn't be a bed. He was sitting in his wheelchair in the garden. Had Tyson and Max just left him here? No, not just that, they had left him with…

"I didn't know you're … the others said you're taking care of your business in Russia?" Rei explained whilst rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. They had left him in the sun… hopefully he really wouldn't get sunburned. How long had he slept anyway? Why had no one woken him up and when had Kai arrived?

"You're wearing it again the same way you used to."

He was… what? That hadn't been the answer to his question, right? So what… he was trying to follow the Russian's gaze then… he was wearing… oh yeah, his hair. That had to be it. He shrugged. "Yeah, I had it like that on all of the pictures I saw and I thought it was a good idea." He made a vague gesture. "Appears to be a lot handier to me." When it was bound like this it couldn't fly around all the time and the braiding thing… it had made him feel like a girl. The way it was now… he liked that. Seemed he and the old Rei had at least one thing in common… and he had noticed something else as well. Since he had asked his nurse to wrap cloth around his hair that one morning, Rei's friends… they had started to behave slightly different around him. Maybe he would call it… more relaxed. He wasn't the same, he knew that but if at least looking the way he had had made them all feel better about it… it wasn't such a big sacrifice…

The Russian's eyes seemed to remain on his hair for a while longer before they sought out Rei's own. There was a strange expression in them, but then it was gone and the Chinese had to keep himself from frowning. He just didn't know how to take the Russian sometimes. Not that he had had many chances to figure it out. Since their last… rather unlucky encounter, Kai had been gone. That was... about ten days ago?

Kai suddenly coughed before he looked away at some flowers and crossed his arms over his chest. "So… how are you now?"

Now Rei did frown, if only slightly because he wasn't sure what to do with the question. If it had come from anyone else he wouldn't feel that unsure but… he had to remind himself what everyone had told him. Kai was supposed to be his friend and he owed him. "I'm feeling alright, really. I have a wheelchair now and it's fancy, don't you think?" He tried to joke whilst smiling at the same time… not that the Russian was look – oh yeah, now he did look and he was drawing a single eyebrow at him. Somehow Rei found that fascinating - not all people could do that with just one brow.

"I don't think I would prefer it to a car." Kai stated dryly and Rei blinked.

"Yeah, well, I guess there is no chance to reach a similar mileage." No matter how fast Tyson would be trying to race him through the corridors… not that he hadn't been stopped before things could escalate and Rei was damn glad for it as the prospect of getting involved in another accident of any kind was not very appealing to him.

"Certainly not." The Russian replied and then it was becoming rather quiet again. Usually Rei liked the peace but this situation made him feel kind of uncomfortable.

"So, did I have a car?" He had not asked anyone that before and since he and Kai were living together – god, he really still couldn't picture that, especially now that the Russian was standing right in front of him, emitting that aura of confidence and something else, something that was bothering Rei for some reason he just couldn't name – the Russian should know about that.

"No." One word and Kai's face remained rather blank.

"Oh. It's just that Tyson mentioned the silly looking picture on my license some time ago, so I thought… doesn't matter." He shrugged and then looked away at some flowers himself, feeling rather awkward again. Hell, how was this ever going to work out? It wasn't his fault, though, was it? He was trying to make an effort here.

"It is… it's not silly looking. Tyson shouldn't be the one talking anyway as I've never seen a picture of him that wasn't looking anything but and you didn't have a car as you didn't mind walking or taking public transports. If you really needed one I usually let you have mine."

That revelation made Rei's head come around and his golden orbs were widening. "You lent me your car?" Well, normally, a thing like that surely wouldn't be such a big deal but… this was Kai, the mean Russian – his friend, his friend, they were living together - ahhh…

In the very first moment the Russian looked rather defensive and Rei expected to be snapped at again any second but then Kai's posture became more relaxed. "Hn, you're a good driver."

Oh… he was a good driver? Hell, probably not anymore. Heh, definitely not. He wouldn't be as stupid as to drive with himself… not that that was an option. Right now he couldn't walk and barely had the strength to move his wheelchair forward on his own. He had managed… what was it, seven meters before? And Tyson had given him a push… he really shouldn't think about that now. Frustrating. "Ah, guess I won't be borrowing it for a while. "Rei half joked not really thinking about his words.

Kai's gaze was dark then and his answer sounded somewhat brusquely. "Guess not."

Uh oh, maybe he shouldn't have… but what had he said anyway? He simply wouldn't be able to drive a car for a while - a rather long while at that - and that fact should be obvious to the both of them. So what did Kai expect from him? He couldn't always talk like he would pretend… and no, he just wouldn't do that.

"Aha! As I see Rei woke up in time to greet our_ rare_ guest." The cap-wearer's snide remark cut through the air and made Rei doubt his senses. When had he ever missed Tyson approaching him before?

"Tyson." Max warned. "Don't start this again, alright?" Rei blinked. Where had the both of them come from so suddenly? Damn, this really was a huge garden.

"Why not, Maxie?" Hiro's little brother asked sounding obstinate whilst he was fixing the Russian with a glare. "It's just fair that Rei gets to hear the reason why his _good friend_ Kai didn't find the time to be there for him after he woke up after nearly _eight months_ but rather chose to take a little trip to good ol' Russia. Run out of the expensive vodka brand or what? Never heard of delivery services?"

Rei could feel the air around him becoming thicker and thicker with every word that flew out of Tyson's mouth and when he had finished his little speech, he was almost surprised that everyone was still standing and breathing instead of having been suffocated by the poisonous atmosphere that was building up. The Chinese had become aware of some of the… tension Kai's sudden departure had caused within Rei's friends and they had commented on it at times but… he was afraid of becoming witness to a murder soon, if no one stopped the little dumb head from provoking the Russian further.

Kai scowled dangerously. "I'm not as addicted to alcohol as you are to sweets and you're platitudes about my country are starting to really get on my nerves. As for the rest… I owe you shit, Tyson and I do what I want, if you have a problem with that that's your problem entirely, so don't bore me with your opinion about it."

"Guys…" Max tried to intervene but Tyson held up a hand whilst making a rather disgusted face. His eyes hadn't left the ones of the Russian the whole time.

"God, that's so typical for you to say! But didn't you listen to what _I_ said?! It's not me you owe an explanation to, you asshole! But after everything… that you do not even care enough to… I just don't get you anymore!"

There were a couple of emotions playing on the cap-wearer's face before his final outburst but Rei was more concerned about the only one he could read from the Russian's features at that moment- wrath. Murder, murder!

"Tyson, it's okay, alright? It's fine. I don't need an explanation. I… I'm the one that owes Kai, not the other way around." Rei was not sure if he had spoken it aloud or not but then… three pairs of eyes were staring at him in shock. Yep, he had said it aloud, alright. It was true, though, no way around it.

The cap-wearer frowned. "Rei, what is that suppose to mean? You don't have to take it upon you that Kai is such… that Kai is such a…"

"Such a good friend that he pays for my hospital bills and as you said it's eight months now. That's more than you can ask of anyone, so I don't think…" Rei frowned then trying to get his thoughts completely back in order. "I don't think he deserves your anger. I never expected you, and with that I mean all of you, to sit at my bed every day holding my hand…"

Tyson was becoming rather white then whilst the blond quietly gasped. "But Rei!"

The Chinese shook his head. "No, I am aware of the fact that you all have lives, Tyson, and they don't have to evolve just around me. Kai did something great for me, I am aware of that and it's not right of you to blame him for needing to work for the money he spent on me so far and…"

Rei's eyes were searching out the Russian's face then and he could see shock there as well. "I didn't get to thank you yet. I'm grateful for what you've done for me and… I know that I owe you. I hope some day I'll be able to make it up to you somehow." He had no clear idea, though, of how he would ever be able to accomplish that seeing that probably no one would ever faint taking a look at his bank account but it had been a necessity for him to at least offer. Maybe someday he would find a way to pay Kai back for his generosity.

Kai's mouth opened but then he closed it again just staring at the Chinese and he looked almost wistful… but then his features darkened and Rei had no idea what he had done to aggravate the Russian now. Said person snorted rudely whilst his eyes were glistering in a dark light. "Don't promise something that you cannot keep, Kon." He turned to leave then but not without giving another message when his back was already turned to them all. "I'm not expecting things, either."

With that last cryptic statement the Russian left the little group of three behind and deep inside Rei felt bad. He couldn't even explain it but he just… he felt really bad right now.

.

.

"Here, brought you something."

The Chinese did not even have the time to properly register that the Russian had just entered his room before his hand came up almost automatically to catch a thing that was flung at him nearly all the way from the door.

The Russian smirked. "Good reflexes."

Rei decided to not get disturbed by Kai's strange behavior but rather chose to examine the somewhat soft thing in his hand. "What is that?" Something red… a cloth of sorts?

"It's your drawing headband." The Russian stated whilst taking a stance, leaning against the wall. He didn't close his eyes this time, though, and he appeared to be kind of relaxed in general. It surprised Rei as after the incident in the hospital garden yesterday… he had expected the Russian to be on the next plane to his home country for another – at least four-months-trip.

"My what?!" A what? A drawing headband? What in hell was that? Why in hell did he possess something like that?

Kai shrugged. "The others gave you a drawing pad, didn't they? You usually never drew without that headband, you insisted on it inspiring your work or something… "

Rei couldn't help it, he had to smile at that. "Heh, I don't know what's there to get inspired about as to me it seems I am simply totally talent free." The Chinese had searched for the pad and was now opening it to show that first picture to the Russian that had convinced him right at the beginning that this surely wasn't his forte. "Or maybe you would call that modern art?" Rei asked, feeling rather amused.

Kai took a few steps in his direction to be able to have a better look at the picture. "No, I'd call that a Tyson." He stated after a moment mock dryly.

Rei stared and stared and then blinked. Ah… .!! Tyson, of course! Why had he never thought about that? Well, maybe because this was his drawing pad… "What is it then?" Rei looked at the picture again, then back at the Russian frowning.

Kai shrugged. "Who cares? But to me it looks like a genetically modified animal with three legs and four eyes."

The Chinese almost gaped. Almost. That… he had thought exactly the same that first time, hadn't he? But that was a coincidence, or maybe it simply just looked like an animal with three legs and four eyes? He had to ask the others whether they could see it too… when Tyson was not around, of course… which could prove difficult.

He put away the pad and then concentrated on 'his drawing headband'. "So, how am I supposed to wear that thing?" He asked and then decided, well , since it was a headband - probably around his head. He tried it out. "Somehow like that?" He darted the Russian a questioning gaze and yes, Rei did think this situation was rather strange but at the moment he didn't really care.

Kai shook his head but there was a smirk gracing his lips. "Get your bangs out, Kon. You look like a nerd."

Rei smiled, though he wasn't certain why. A nerd? He thought he had a certain idea but… he took the headband down again. "That's a…" He really wasn't sure at the moment.

"It's something like a geek or a striver… just think of Kenny, that's the easiest way to explain it, I suppose." The Russian shrugged again and Rei was honestly astonished that he had attempted to explain it to him without trying to make him look like a retard for not immediately knowing it.

So, Kenny… someone that grew out his bangs until they were covering his eyes - but that probably wasn't what Kai had meant. No, he wasn't a complete idiot. Kenny worked a lot with computers. Technical stuff. They had talked again over Max's laptop and he had told him a lot of things about his work but… he had not understood awfully much of it – Tyson had encouraged him not to feel bothered by that as it was like this with all of them. Almost no one understood what Kenny did beside his other geek friends… ah, there he had heard that word before.

"Ah, okay, thanks." He thought of something then and added. "Hiwatari."

Kai drew an eyebrow at him. One single eyebrow. "Don't mention it, Kon."

.

.

Rei shook his head looking baffled at the Russian who had taken a seat on one of the chairs by now. "I really have a headband for all of that?" That really was… god, it was odd. A really really odd character trait.

"Yeah, and they all have different colors and take up almost a complete row in your closet. I always thought you were a little weird because of that…" Kai smirked, looking at him a bit nastily all of a sudden.

Oh yeah, wasn't that nice? The Chinese had known that the Russian's personality couldn't have changed completely besides the fact that he had talked to him for almost half an hour by now. And by talked, Rei meant _talked_. Like a person, like one normal person would talk to another normal person. It had really somehow… unsettled Rei at first but then he had gotten rather fascinated with the story about, well, himself, the Russian had started to share with him. Headbands for… cooking, and sports, like jogging, swimming, according to Kai he had a damn headband for playing crazy golf in the park which was… yeah, crazy.

"So?" Rei huffed, though he wasn't completely sure why he felt the need to defend himself. He wasn't the old Rei. He didn't like headbands... that much. "I bet you have plenty of weird habits as well." Everyone had those, right? Max and his finger twitching, Kenny who was a nerd, apparently. Lee who always started rubbing his earlobe when he was rather absorbed in something as Rei had observed just recently, and Tyson, well, Tyson, he wouldn't even try to go there…

Kai gazed at him rather arrogantly. "Maybe, but if that was the case you wouldn't know about them, would you?"

Damn, what an ass. Rei shouldn't forget the Russian was an ass even though he obviously was his friend and lived with him and he had been allowed to drive his car… it was all kind of unfair, was it not?

"Close your mouth again or the flies will find a new place to lay their eggs in." The Russian declared looking bored now.

Rei was feeling close to bursting and not just because he didn't think some fly had ever seen the interior of this building before anyway, as he was sure a whole big cleaning staff of people was occupied with the task of making certainthat none of the patients got disturbed by insects of any kind and if, due to a total coincidence, it really should happen that a fly was to land in his mouth, he was also sure he'd be intelligent enough to notice it before said animal would be able to leave behind its eggs. The Chinese held his breath and bit his tongue to not voice all of that. Kai was his friend, his friend, simply caring for him…

"Look, Kon." Kai spoke up then again whilst crossing his arms over his chest, fixing him with his dark eyes. "I don't want you to crawl up my ass just because you know I pay the bills for you now, is that clear?"

Goddamnit! "Whoa, I'm crawling up no one's ass, okay? And the last ass I'd ever even think about crawling up would be yours! But I'm damn glad you said that, I really am as I don't feel like listening to your shit without at least being able to tell you openly what I think about it!"

One eyebrow again. "So, what do you think about it, Kon?" The Russian was looking at him almost curiously, or was that challengingly…? So the Russian was challenging him? He wanted Rei to give him a piece of his mind? Well, he had no problem with that! No problem at all!

"I think, _Hiwatari_, you really have some issues you probably need to sort out with yourself foremost because it's not normal to behave the way you do!"

"You think I'm having issues?" Kai repeated so calmly that it pissed Rei off even more, and he looked amused, the damn Russian had the nerve to look fucking amused! There was even a sparkle in his eyes!

"Oh yeah, I damn think you're having issues and I'm sure I'm not the first one to tell you either! Maybe you should take Tyson's platitudes about your country to heart and get yourself some of that vodka as I heard some people are starting to behave nicer when drunk!"

Rei was expecting an immediate comeback from the Russian and prepared to spit something back himself no matter what Kai came up with, but to his surprise there was nothing. Kai stayed silent, just watching him to a point where it made Rei feel insecure again as he wasn't sure what he had to expect from the other man now. What he surely hadn't expected, though… the Russian was, he was smiling again, wasn't he? That strange little smile he… it made him look so… different, it was almost… Rei's anger puffed out like it had never been there in the first place. What was going on now?

And then Kai's little smile morphed into a smirk again and Rei was blinking as he couldn't believe what a great change that brought to the Russian's face. He had not just imagined that smile right now, had he? He wasn't sure anymore. God, this damn Russian made him feel damn confused at the moment.

The Russian seemingly unaware of being the cause for Rei's suddenly disturbed feelings took a glance at his watch and stood. "I have an appointment now but I'll be back this afternoon, do you want me to bring your thinker headband then, maybe it could be of use?"

Rei wanted to tell the Russian to go and shove the thinker headband up his ass as he didn't want Rei to be crawling there but instead all that came out was a rather troubled sounding: "I have a thinker headband?"

Kai nodded. "Yeah, it's green with a few yellow dots."

Green with do… Oh god, Rei really couldn't think about that now. He almost laughe. "Sure, bring it along, why don't you?" Hopefully then he would manage to think himself to a place far far away from here!

.

.

"No, Rei!" Tyson moaned. "You're not supposed to eat them! What will you do when you have none left to pay us with?"

The Chinese smiled amused and stuffed another nut in his mouth. "But I really like them." They were playing some sort of board game and since Tyson had lost the actual chips for it they were buying stuff with nuts that had been handed out to each of them equally before the game had started. Rei had been doing fairly well but now he was getting short on his substitute money because he had decided that he rather liked the taste of these nuts. Hmm salty.

"But that way you're going to lose." Tyson explained sounding slightly affronted.

Rei shrugged, grabbing for another of his nuts whilst he watched Tyson still smiling. "I don't really care."

The cap-wearer's eyes were growing rather huge at that. "But Rei, buddy, the purpose of the whole game is to try and win!"

"Nah, that's not true." Max gave his input. "The purpose of the game his to have fun and we're all having fun, right guys?"

"Absolutely correct." Hiro backed the blond Max up. "My little brother needs to remember that most games are about having a good time with friends and not just about winning."

"I do remember that!" Tyson shouted. "But it's not a bad thing if you can combine those two things, is it?"

"Well, maybe for people like you who are prone to sulk if they lose one." Hiro explained grinning smugly.

"I don't sulk! I never – hey, Maxie, tell him that I don't sulk, will ya?" The cap-wearer bickered sullenly.

The blue eyed Max only snickered at that and Tyson pulled a face. "A fine best friend you are…"

"Yes, he is." Hiro affirmed. "Indeed he's such a fine best friend that he always lets you win when the two of you play checkers."

Now Tyson's mouth stood open so widely that it looked like a whole truck could fit into it. Figuratively spoken, of course. "He's not! That's so not true, Hiro! Max, c'mon, tell my big jerk of a brother you'd never do something like that!"

The cap-wearer stared at his blond, finger- twitching, becoming red ears, best friend expectantly and luckily for Max, as Rei thought, he wasn't forced to answer, seeing that another person opened the door to come into his room at that very moment. Without having knocked first, as the Chinese noted if just in his head.

"Oh, hey, Kai!" Max was quick to greet his rescuer.

Hiro nodded his greetings as well. "We're almost finished with the game but you could partake in the next round if Rei hasn't eaten all the nuts until then that is." Tyson's older brother gave Rei an amused little grin and the Chinese met it with a smile of his own whilst shoving another nut between his teeth.

"And I thought it was Tyson's big ambition to get rid of all tiny pieces of food from here to the Antarctica," the Russian remarked before he sat down on the only unoccupied chair. No leaning against a wall this time? Rei wondered.

"Oh, man, what's up with everyone today?!" The little Granger brother complained. "Do I have a sign 'please pick on me!' glued to my back I haven't seen so far or something? I mean, seriously, you guys could be a little nicer, seeing that I have a test in two days and all. I need your support people! Support!"

"Our support won't do much for you if you don't sit down on your ass once in a while to try get the stuff into your thick head," Hiro remarked whilst rolling a dice to continue with the game.

"So, what are you saying? I did study! Rei can attest that I did, I even brought my book here twice, right, Rei?!"

Erm, yes, the Chinese indeed remembered the loudmouth bringing the book with him and then it lay on the windowsill most of the time because Tyson had shown him how to play a game that involved only your own fingers and a thread and the second time… Lee had come by and told them how to make ice cream. Everyone sure could picture just how concentrated Tyson had managed to stay on his book then… Rei ate another nut before he stated sounding innocently. "He did bring the book."

"See!" Tyson yelled excitedly. "Told ya!"

Rei noticed a pair of eyes on him then. A darker pair. And the owner had one eyebrow drawn at him slightly incredulously. Rei didn't feel bothered by that. He shrugged, smiled at Kai and shoved another nut into his mouth before he took the dice Max handed him.

Hiro's little brother then went on explaining them about his new developed strategy to make sure he would cover all the topics he hadn't managed to memorize so far in just one night. Indeed he seemed to be so convinced of his method that his good mood almost infected all of them - well, all but the Russian but he at least held himself back somewhat - that was until they came to the dreadful point when Tyson had to realize…

"What?! I lost?! That's impossible, I, I… alright guys! Let's do this one more time!"

.

.

"So, where is it?"Rei looked at the Russian questioningly. He had just remembered about the end of their earlier conversation after they all had played that second round of the game together in which Hiro had won again after beating the Russian in a hard last dual. Tyson had been third and Max - who had left them by then because he needed to help his mother - fourth. Rei had lost because he finally really had run out of nuts but that was not the Chinese's concern at the moment. He really wanted to see that thinker headband now. He was in a much better frame of mind than before and slightly… curious.

Kai's face remained completely blank, though Rei could tell he had caught on about the other's words immediately. "I forgot."

"Oh…" The Chinese was experiencing a sudden tinge of… disappointment? Or not, because… why the hell should he feel like that? "Well, wasn't really important anyway, I guess." He was already getting over it by eating another nut. One he had stolen from Tyson, seeing that he didn't have any left himself but they were done with the game anyway so it didn't matter.

"What's not important? What do you mean? Hey, Kai, Rei what are you talking about." Of course the cap-wearer was one of these people that always wanted to know everything about everything.

"It's none of your business," Kai said rather unforgiving and then fixed his eyes on Hiro. "Can't you teach your little brother to be less nosy at times?"

Hiro shrugged. "Trust me I tried, but there's absolutely nothing I can do about it. He simply is a lost case."

"Hey!" The cap-wearer complained and tried to punch his brother in the upper arm, failing to be fast enough. though. "Take that back immediately!"

Tyson's older brother laughed and Kai snorted. "Why would he? It's the truth after all."

"No, it's not!" The loudmouth shook his head vehemently.

The Russian snorted. "There's no sense arguing with you, you're as stubborn as a mule."

Hiro's little brother gasped. "I dare you to say that again!"

Kai kept a straight face. "And I dare you to shut up. My ears are already ringing from your constant yelling."

"It's not my fault that you are that sensitive! I don't know what's wrong with you Russian people that you cannot handle some noise at times! You listen to music, too, don't you? At least polka and shit like that."

Kai's face color was slightly changing after that statement. "Get on my nerves with that some more, Tyson and I'll show you something you certainly won't be able to handle," the Russian threatened coldly.

"It's time to break up anyway," Hiro interrupted their argument calmly. "Tyson has to stick his nose in his book some more and I have some things to do as well and I guess Rei has had to deal with our company long enough today." Hiro winked at Rei who gave a soft smile.

And then the two Granger brothers took their leave, though not without saying their goodbyes first and Tyson darting the Russian a last nasty glare which Kai chose to completely ignore which pissed the cap-wearer off again, but Hiro - to prevent things from escalating further - simply shoved his little brother out of the room.

The Russian stood then as well before the Chinese could even say a single word and was already on his way to the door when he suddenly stopped next to Rei's bed to get something out of his jacket he handed the Chinese. That was…

"I didn't give it to you earlier because you told me once that you'd rather not have the others know everything about your headband tick as it is something… rather personal…" Kai's voice was quiet as he spoke.

Rei was speechless for a moment. His thoughts were flying. He had not told them… but Kai. Kai knew about the headbands. Knew something that had obviously been quite personal to him…. Rei rubbed the headband between his fingers thoughtfully before he looked up at Kai frowning. "It… it is true, right? That we were really good friends, I mean?"

The Russian gave him a long, undecipherable look before he turned to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kon."

"Yeah, Hiwatari." Rei whispered to himself a long while after the Russian was gone, letting the green headband with the yellow dots slide through his fingers again. "See you tomorrow."


	7. Chapter 7

This one's for BeautyRani and everyone else who might enjoy it :))

I still can't promise for chapters to come fast but I haven't forgotten this story and will continue it step by step.

* * *

"What did I say?" The Chinese asked in disbelief, still trying to somehow analyze when things had started to - What had just happened anyway?

Tyson and Max were still snickering at him like two little maniacs and they didn't seem to want to stop with it again any time soon. The blond had even developed a little hiccup along the way.

"B-but, Rei", the cap-wearer tried to speak up again whilst fighting with his own laughter. "You, you said you-" Tyson had to stop himself and wait another moment until he had collected enough air to speak his next works. "I mean, damn, she was flirting with you, Rei. FLIRTING!" He repeated with emphasize whilst making a weird gesture with his hand. It looked like he was trying to draw something in the air but Rei couldn't make out what it was. Not that he didn't already know that Tyson was a horrible illustrator. The others hadn't seen the animal, by the way, that he and Kai had when they had looked at the picture the Chinese had shown to them. Max had claimed it to be a bicycle. Lee said it was just a mess of lines and Hiro explained that if Tyson had drawn the picture he was sure it was supposed to be cake. They had all agreed they wouldn't eat a cake looking like this – ever.

Back to the main topic, however. Rei frowned. What did Tyson mean, she had been flirting with him? To him she had appeared the same as usual. A little odd but friendly. Ever since he had apologized to her for having been rude on that one occurrence, he had gotten along with the nurse rather well. She was friendly after all – odd sometimes but friendly and whatever Tyson had got to say about this, is surely couldn't be anything smart. "She was just being friendly." Seriously, what were they even talking about? She had asked him things about the café that was all. Things he couldn't tell her much about, since he had no clue about how to run a café - or how to make a Mocha Cappuccino.

"Ohhh Please!" Tyson was making a face. "She is eating you up with her eyes every time she enters this room, Rei! Everyone noticed already! For a fact, it's a big joke between the guys and we even made a bet on when you would –" That was as far as the cap-wearer got before Max palm shoved itself over his mouth.

The Chinese felt more than a bit bewildered all of a sudden. A bet? A joke? Flirting? Whaaa…?

"It's not like that, Rei." Oh yeah, it was Max's turn now. "We're not trying to make fun of you, you know… but it _is_ rather comical to watch sometimes." He said in an apologetic tone, trying to suppress a smirk whilst pushing his forefingers together. That however meant, his right hand no longer covered Tyson's mouth and said person's mouth made use of the new found freedom right away.

"Yeah, no offense, man, but when she asked you about coffee and shit, she didn't want you to explain to her how to make it, she wanted to get invited, you get that?"

The Chinese blinked. She wanted what? Get invited? To Mocha Cappuccino? "I cannot even leave the hospital." He mumbled, feeling way too disturbed about the whole course this conversation took to truly think about the weak nature of his protest.

Tyson shook his head and sighed theatrically. "After you're out of hospital, of course. You're not gonna stay here forever. She just wants to make sure that you don't forget her too soon." The cap-wearer rubbed his chin then in an almost thoughtful gesture. "Actually, I wonder why she hasn't given it up already, you're awfully unresponsive but I guess she pities you since you're amnesic and all..."

Rei stared. Already? What did he mean already? If there really was some truth to Tyson's words – and he still had his rightful doubts about that – she had hinted at wanting to go out for coffee some time on exactly one occasion. Precisely about fifteen minutes ago and it really wasn't his fault that he was no mind reader and that she couldn't just say that she wanted to get invited to coffee, if that was truly what she was after – not that he was sure he actually wanted to go drink coffee with her but at least he wouldn't have to feel like such a dumbass now and -

"Tyson!" Max's chiding sounding voice brought Rei's concentration back to the other two young men. "I'm quite sure that's not the reason, she's trying to get Rei's attention." The blond said, giving the cap-wearer a rather pointed look.

Hiro's little brother waved his best friend off, seemingly unbothered by his little lecture. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, he's a real chick magnet. Seemed nothing much changed about that but hey, since you're not going out with her anyway, how about letting me try to have a go, huh Rei? I mean, Erica's rather cute, isn't she?"

Max cheeks were suddenly swelling and he looked like a balloon ready to burst - which after a second, he did. "Tyson!"

"What's the problem now, Maxie?" Hiro's little brother asked wearing an expression of confusion. "I'm simply trying to be nice, sparing the girl a terrible heartbreak."

Alright, not that the Chinese wasn't already used to the fact that Max and Tyson liked to talk about him as if he wasn't there at times or stupid and deaf and therefore unable to hear them but he was not that stupid and certainly not deaf and therefore capable of hearing the things both of them were saying and as surprising as that might sound to others also reflect about them.

It seemed he had had a good stand with girls in general. It was not the first time Tyson had mentioned something in this direction, as well (as strange as this information was for him to comprehend) but what irked the Chinese more at the moment was the fact that Tyson had declared Rei wouldn't want to go out with her anyway. What right did he have to decide something like that for him? Not that he felt especially eager – alright he had no urge to go out with the nurse– or anyone for the matter but maybe that was just his momentary mood and would soon change? You couldn't know, could you?

So, why would Tyson, who had just started another argument with the blond, state it, as if it was a fixed rule? "Why wouldn't I want to go out with her anyway?" Rei asked straight to the point not bothering to make his voice sound especially friendly. That question brought almost immediate silence between the two squabblers.

"Uh, well… you, because you… wait! Does that mean you _want _to go out with her?" The cap-wearer's eyes had become quite big and he was staring at him like Rei had just explained he felt like living under the sea from now and Max, well, Max did appear like he couldn't decide if, or what, or how he wanted to say something because his mouth opened and closed again. Repeatedly.

Watching this whole strange display Rei felt a sudden tinge of insecurity but before he got to say anything at all then door opened and a man entered the room with confident strides. Just to take a stance in the middle of the room with crossed arms whilst regarding the other three occupants with an intense look. It seemed the momentary atmosphere did not go past him.

"Alright, no matter what this is about, you two can continue to annoy the patient some time later. Right now, he and I have things to discuss."

Having said that the Russian waited a moment for the two loonies to let the information sink into their heads but his patience ran out rather quickly as Rei noticed, who was slowly recovering from – whatever that just was now. "That means, get out!" Kai barked. "Go have lunch, or a second lunch or in Tyson's case even a third but don't come back before at least the next two hours."

"W-What?" Seemed the cap-wearer had managed to recover, as well. "You cannot just shoo us out of the room, Kai we have… urgh, alright, now that you mentioned it, I do feel kind of hungry, what about you Maxie?"

Interesting, the Chinese thought. Sometimes even Tyson had to have a bit more sense than people did give him credit for. It was that one special look the Russian did possess that made the cap-wearer react in such a submissive way. Kai didn't use it that often – at least not as often as he could, Rei was certain about that… but when he did, no one seemed to be willing to get into a discussion with him.

"Oh, erm, sure let's go and have a little snack." Max made haste to comply. He got intimidated even easier than Tyson who didn't always recognize the danger, especially when he was in an obstinate mood. "Do you maybe need anything, Rei?"

The Chinese shook his head and tried to show a thankful little smile though he felt still a bit disturbed about the whole scene earlier – it probably was best to just forget it, at least for the moment.

"So, what was that about?" The Russian asked Rei with one drawn up eyebrow after the two other boys had said their goodbyes and quickly exited the room. Funny. Now, that they were gone so was Kai's hostility and the Russian appeared to be rather normal again. Not that he hadn't always had that certain appearance of authority but within this last time Rei had gotten to know the Russian a bit better and there were some things about Kai that maybe weren't quite as aggravating as he first thought them to be.

The Chinese gave him a rather helpless look. "I don't think I know." No, he really didn't think he knew.

That made the Russian snort and then he also showed a little smirk. "Don't worry, Kon. You have to be a loony yourself to really understand what goes on in a loonies head."

"Whoa, that coming from you, Hiwatari, I take it as a compliment." To say the truth, ever since the headband thing their relationship had slightly improved. Rei hadn't noticed at first but after the Russian had started to visit him more frequently after his earlier longer departure – they had somehow found out that they could talk. A bit awkward maybe at first but after a couple of days… there simply was something about the Russian that Rei liked without being able to actually explain what it was – and no that didn't involve the Russian paying the bills for him in any way - but they had found a basis it seemed, at least the Chinese wanted to think that they had because by the time he actually would get released out of hospital… the thought of being able to live with someone he could get along with rather than with someone that hated his guts was… soothing somehow.

The Russian gave him a half smirk and an arrogant little snort. "Don't get too cocky. If you want to get any praises from me you need to really earn that."

What a bastard. Rei shook his head smiling, his eyes twinkling in amusement. "Has anyone ever managed to actually do that?"

Kai gave another snort before he made a straight face. "Hn, I didn't say it was easy."

"No, you didn't." The Chinese admitted almost grinning by now. It was strange, really. Last week he would probably have felt provoked by the Russians stern demeanor but now he found it had a funny side to it, as well. In fact, sometimes he was almost convinced that it was indeed Kai's intention to be humorous with the things he said, just that not everybody did notice immediately. The Russians humor simply seemed to be of a darker, more cynical kind and for some reason that was probably totally insane – Rei found that rather congenial. Maybe that was because he had a bit of a nasty streak inside himself at times, just that he, in most cases, only thought the things the Russian obviously never had a problem to voice out aloud.

"Anyway, Kon," The Russian continued nonchalantly and got himself a chair that he turned so that he could sit down placing his elbows on its backrest. "As I said there's something important we need to discuss right now."

Oh? Rei's ears pricked up at that. Something important? Sounded… uh, well, important. What could this be about though? Only one way to find out. "Uhm, alright." He slightly turned his head to take in Kai's face with an open gaze.

The Russian cleared his throat, his eyes flickering downwards for a second before they came up again to meet his own. "It's like this, the hospital is taking part at a new study. I'm not a medic, so I'll just explain this short and easy."

A study? Short and easy? Well, after being used to rather long lectures by his favorite doctor, Rei was rather taken by that idea. He nodded to let Kai know so too.

"Scientists developed a serum that upon injection can drastically increase the build-up of muscles within the body. It would strengthen your general constitution and help you to be back on your feet a lot faster. If everything goes as it is supposed to be you could probably be released within the course of a week, two at the most. All you need to do is tell me if you want to take part at that study." He ended his little speech looking at the Chinese expectantly.

Rei felt rather… overwhelmed. Okay, okay, time to try and review that information he had just received. So, a study and they had developed a certain serum that could help him to… build-up muscles, something he definitely did not possess at the moment, and that would mean he would be… able to walk again and everything and that a lot sooner than he would have dared hope for but… for some reason total excitement didn't want to come to him. Instead he tried to read something out of the Russian's face his words had already somewhat implied…"If it goes as it's supposed to be?" And what if it would not?

For a moment Rei thought there was a flicker in Kai's eyes but it was gone before he could be sure and then he simply shrugged. "There could be some side effects, of course, but you will find a list of those on the back of any package, be it pills, or spray, or a simple plaster. You know how it goes, everyone's in need to hedge their own bets but though this study is a rather new one, it's not entirely uncommon anymore and there are examples for a positive outcome. Frankly, Kon, this is your best chance to walk again and soon, so don't be an idiot and just take it."

He shouldn't be an idiot, eh? If this was a new study and would help him to improve that much in such a short time… that couldn't be cheap. No, it couldn't be cheap at all. "And how much would that cost you?" Rei asked straight away. This was not the right time to be polite and considerate. He had somehow accepted the fact that the Russian couldn't feel totally indifferent towards him, not after all the time he has spent with him so far but… he had done enough for him already. The Chinese already felt like a… he simply felt bad about it at times, because he really had no idea how to ever repay the Russian and now… maybe he would have to work a little harder for his first success but at least Kai wouldn't think that he just…

Kai's reaction was as surprising as it was really not. He simply smirked at him. "Ah, don't tell me, Kon, you are rattled by a guilty conscious. The hospital is hot for some willing lab rats, if I provide one they will gladly agree to my conditions." His smirk got something malicious to it then.

Ah, yeah, right… how nice Kai could see the amusing side of this but still… this was not really a matter to joke about and Rei was not certain what he was truly thinking, well, he was certain what he was thinking about one particular thing. "In all seriousness, Hiwatari." He stated. "I don't want you to have to indebt yourself even more because of me or something like that."

The Russian was looking at him for a very very long moment. Or maybe it was just a short moment but for the Chinese it appeared to be a rather long moment because, well, Kai's eyes had something so very intense that seemed to almost suck him in and before he even understood what was really happening time had begun to move… rather slow. Until the Russian's voice set it into motion again. "You want to walk? Yes or no?"

Ah, well, a simple enough question or so Rei thought but somehow there sure was more to it than he could yet foresee… "Erm, well, yes but even without that serum I'll be able to in time, right?" He felt a certain notion of uneasiness overcoming him. The doctor had ensured him that… well, of course he had mentioned it would be a hard path and take up a lot of his strength and willpower but in the end… he would be able to, right?

Kai gave him a rather cool look before he shrugged. "Maybe."

Rei's mouth opened at that. Maybe? What did he mean MAYBE? Was he just… they had told him he… but why would he say, what did he... KAI?

The Russian seemed to sense at least some of his discomfort, or should he call it sudden panic? And felt genuine enough to add something to this, after all. "Look, Kon, a chance for you to recover a hundred percent and regain your strength to your full potential had never really been given. Sure, with a lot of patience and dedication and hard work… maybe you would be able to reach a state close to how it had been before the accident but that would take many many years… this study will speed things up for you by a lot and in the end that'll only reduce costs instead of increasing them if that is truly your biggest worry in this…"

So, wait. Wait, there a second. A chance to entirely recover had not really been there… why did they encourage him then? Just so that he wouldn't lose hope? And he somehow was only at the start so how could they even know… sure, sure they had their fancy medical equipment and a lot of experience with cases as his but… what was that? Rei blinked. If that was truly his biggest worry? He looked at Kai incredulously. "What do you mean?"

The Russian regarded him for a second. Then his mouth twitched. "Well, to me it looks as if you're simply feeling like a little puss because I mentioned some side effects…"

At first Rei didn't quite trust his ears. Like a little, like a… a little… PUSS? Now that seriously went too far! He could insult him in many ways and he'd just overlook that by now like a responsible and sensible adult BUT… that! The Chinese felt the hairs at his neck standing up, and at his arms and actually he was itching like EVERYWHERE. "Know what?" He snarled at the Russian with glowing eyes. "I'm taking part as this study and I hope it's going to seriously empty your purse!"

Kai showed a rather unimpressed face at that but it was obvious he felt rather satisfied with himself. Smug bastard. "Leave the worrying about my _wallet_ to me. Well, as soon as you are out of here, you can start with filling up the fridge though. I hate grocery shopping and it's your fault I had to do it these last weeks."

Rei's anger almost vanished, or let's say he forgot about it for a moment, with the arising of sudden new questions in his head that without a doubt had something to do with the Russian's last words. He hated grocery shopping? Yeah, well, everyone probably had a thing or two concerning housework that but… wait here again. "Does that mean you always made me do the shopping?"

"Hn." Kai snorted. "You volunteered and I don't see why I should be in need to adjust to any new rules, only because you're not able to remember the old. You agreed back then, so it's still your work."

That actually left Rei open mouthed for a second or two. Was the Russian for real here? Well, according to his look… fine, but then he would really like to learn what Kai's work involved in their… flat companionship. "So what did you do? Cook?" Somehow picturing that almost made him laugh.

"Not really." The Russian shrugged keeping a straight face. "You always complained about me putting away things the wrong way afterwards, so I left you and your sanctuary alone most of the time."

Eh? His sanctuary? What the hell? So now he was supposed to cook, too? He honestly… he remembered shit about that. Maybe he would find his way around to boil some water or… sanctuary… a damn kitchen? That sounded so wrong. "How did you participate then? Wash clothes? Cleaning?"

Again the Russian seemed to be in no hurry to give him any hint that would tell him that, concerning the housework, at least, Kai wasn't a total and complete slacker. "I did it sometimes when I had time but fact is, you were around a lot more than me."

Rei felt more and more… displeased with the conversation. "So let's sum this up, yeah? Basically I did everything." Sounded about right, didn't it?

Kai smirked. "I see you didn't lose your sharpness."

Rei stared at him in mock hurt but at always the Russian appeared not really impressed by that – no, not impressed at all. "So that's your real reason, eh?"

That comment at least got Kai to stop with the smirking for now as he was drawing an eyebrow at him in question. "Real reason?"

Now it was his turn to shrug a little. "Yeah, why you're so eager to get me back, missing a willing slave, do you?" Not that he was quite serious with that, though he had to admit he did not particularly like the picture his flatmate had drawn for him here, though he wouldn't put it past him to try and shit with him a little simply because… well, the Russian had this nasty side as he had mentioned before. That, however, could well mean that in truth he really wasn't shitting him and then… woah, no way. Just no way.

At the moment he couldn't even imagine doing any kind of work at all and even if that serum would help… he was not Kai's personal cleaning fairy! Well, he sure wouldn't become anything like that and okay okay, if he truly was to improve a lot then… he owed the Russian even more and he would maybe do some of the work. Fine, he would do most, maybe, for starters, if he could but certainly not forever and then… suddenly he heard something that sounded suspiciously like laughter, well, chuckling, at least and then he blinked and focused. The Russian's features came back into view and yeah, it was quite obvious that he seemed to be rather amused about something.

"Don't space out like that, Kon, you have no idea how silly it makes your face look."

The Chinese blinked again. Space out… silly face… whaaa... "I see you're in an awfully good mood today, Hiwatari." And then he couldn't but add. "And why should I care if my face looks silly? I don't see it." He had not really spaced out, had he?

Kai's mouth twitched again and he placed his chin into his palm whilst slightly leaning his head to the side. He suddenly looked so… young. "But I do."

Oh, we have a king of stating the obvious here! "If you don't like it look away." The man in the hospital bed suggested rather sullenly. Really though, the Russian had dropped quite the bomb on him earlier and now he was poking fun of him any chance he got as if… "When would it start? I mean, you said something bout injections…?" And it was NOT that he was afraid of needles or anything like it. Hell, if that was the case he would have flipped every time a nurse had come to change the drip in his arm but… he still felt a little…uncomfortably with the whole idea altogether.

The Russian said nothing at first then he straightened himself up again and when he talked his voice sounded really calm. Somehow Rei was thankful for that. "Tomorrow. The sooner they start the sooner you'll be able to see the positive effects and you don't have to worry, Rei, the people here know exactly what they are doing."

Wow, had Kai just really… yeah, he was trying to calm his mind, was he not? And, no, he wasn't a puss because of that but he thought it was rather normal to feel a little… and he had just noticed another thing, as well, something that really made him feel a little warm inside right then. "Careful, Hiwatari, you are getting a little soft."

Of course the Russian was not especially pleased at that statement. "And how would you substantiate that allegation?"

Oho, big words, he had to be right then. "You just called me Rei." Rei smiled triumphantly and though he still couldn't help but feel strange every time someone did, in this special situation here… he had not really minded.

"I did not…" The Russian started, just to stop himself after a moment to reformulate his own sentence. "Fine, I'll let you have this win, only because you are already shitting your pants because of tomorrow." The smirk was back in place.

"I am not –" The Chinese was spared of having to exert himself verbally to give the Russian a piece of his mind when the door opened and a rather familiar nurse entered, carrying his lunch.

"Hello, Rei, I…" Erica's eyes suddenly widened and then she started to blush furiously as she obviously just now became aware of the other person residing in his room. "Mr. Hiwatari, I was just, ehm." She turned towards his bed and hastily put his food on the table. "Bringing lunch for Rei." Erica showed him a quick little smile though it was obvious she didn't feel like smiling… hell, he knew Kai could be a real ass but… he was not truly that intimidating, was he? Though the fact that the Russian said nothing and kept staring at her with a rather blank expression certainly would not help to make her feel any better.

"Well, thanks, Erica." He said with a little smile of his own just to do something against the rather weird atmosphere. She hastily nodded, her eyes staying trained on him. "So, I need to… the other patients… if there's anything call and enjoy your lunch. Have a good day Mr. Hiwatari." She was not exactly running but to Rei it looked as if she had fled out of the room anyway. What was that?

He had not much time to wonder before the Russian was drawing his attention again, however. "Seen something you like, Kon?"

The Chinese blinked. "What? Erm," It took a moment until the real message of the Russian's words sunk into his head. "What?" Had he just asked him… oh, right, right. "C'mon, don't tell me you're taking part at that bet, as well." Not that he had any real idea what this bet truly was – and he didn't care – it was bad enough that they secretly amused themselves at his… his… well, whatever!

Kai slightly frowned. "What bet?" His voice didn't sound very nice any longer. Well, yeah what bet? Seemed the Russian also didn't know… why giving him such shit then?

He shrugged, not feeling like explaining anything much when Kai appeared to be in one of these _moods_.

Obviously the Russian was not willing to simply accept that though. "What bet, Kon?" He inquired with emphasize and though Rei had told himself to keep calm and just ignore…

"Hell, if I know, ask the loonies if you are so interested to hear it. They are making things up about the nurse and Mocha Cappuccino and why did you have to be that rude towards her, eh? Should have been kinda obvious even for you that she was feeling distressed."

Kai raised a single eyebrow. "And what's it to you if she is feeling distressed or not?"

What question was that even? Well, sure, he and the nurse weren't close friends or anything like that and maybe he wasn't the most caring person, he really couldn't tell, but he sure took no pleasure out of other people feeling bad and… yeah, damn, could be that he was still feeling a tiny little bit guilty because some time ago he had really yelled at her… anyway, the Russian's question was just… just… "Man, sometimes I'm really not sure what went wrong with you. She's just… a little girl, why would you get off at giving her a hard time?"

For a moment the Russian said nothing then he crossed his arms in a gesture of defense. "Hn. First of all, she's not that little and second I didn't do anything."

"Yeah, that's the problem. Would not have killed you to at least say hi to her, would it?" Seriously sometimes he simply didn't get the Russian.

There was a little glimmer coming alive in Kai's eyes that was suddenly not so little anymore and Rei had to reprimand himself to not suddenly lean back and away from him. Damn, alright, the Russian did know how to look intimidating. "Not everyone can be such a people person as you are but if you like her that much and want to make up for my bad behavior, why don't you invite her to a date?"

It was almost thrown at him as a challenge but all Rei could think was… he had to know about the bet, after all! "Know what, I'm having it with you guys making your fun just because I don't remember how all of these things are supposed to work! It's not easy, okay? How should I know talking about coffee is like a code for going out? That doesn't even make sense, not everyone likes coffee, I sure as hell don't, so be assured I'm not going to drink coffee with her or anyone! So whoever of you makes money with that now, hope he's happy and now leave me alone with that shit!" He really better leave him alone with that shit now!

Now it was the Russian's turn to blink and he did so at least twice. "Calm down, Kon, I didn't… you don't like coffee?" There was no hostility in Kai's voice any longer just something close to… plain curiosity?

Oh, now he could suddenly talk normal to him again? Rei huffed. "Well, don't know, no, not really, I mean I tried it once and that was... questionable." Yeah, really questionable.

For some reason that statement seemed to amuse the Russian again. "Don't let Lee hear that, you'll break his heart."

Lee… oh, because of the café… well, maybe he had a point with that. Not that right now Rei especially cared. Not if Lee was in on that stupid bet, as well, in any case. So he didn't deem it worth to give an answer to it and simply shrugged again.

Kai smirked and then glanced at his watch. "Well, I have to go, you should eat your lunch anyway and if I meet your lovely nurse on the way out, I'll let her know you'd enjoy a coffee pudding desert."

Rei suppressed to voice the 'fuck you, Hiwatari' out aloud but he was thinking it anyway.

The Russian smirked obviously feeling pleased with himself again, before he stood, moved the chair and then made for the door.

The Chinese hesitated a moment but then… "Erm, Hiwatari…?" He didn't know how to actually say it and maybe he shouldn't since… but he couldn't help and think back to the study and… he sure would have to listen to some sort of lecture by his doctor after all and the only person who knew… well, the only person he could imagine to make sure that he'd be able to really… "Will you be back tomorrow?"

The Russian turned to regard him with a look… then the corner of his mouth quirked upwards. "Don't worry, Kon, I'll make sure the big bad dogs won't eat you."

A white pillow hit the door at least twenty seconds _after_ the Russian had exited the room and Rei had to admit to one thing for certain. He really could do with some more muscles!


	8. Chapter 8

Still don't own anything, it's purely fiction!

Finally moving out of hospital. Thanks for the nice feedback, to those who don't like it, all I can say is - don't like, don't read^^

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"Feeling strange?" Kai's quiet words spoken from over by the door almost really startled Rei who had been deeply engrossed in… staring at the opposite side of the wall whilst sitting cross legged on the bed. He felt like he had done so for a long, long time.

"Ah, well, yes, kind of." He laughed a little and his gaze darted once around the room. His room, no, Rei's room. "I mean, I've been looking at all these things for hours now but…" He trailed of, not certain how to actually express what he was feeling inside. This was just so strange. Everything felt… so strange to him right now.

"They won't talk to you." The Russian concluded with a neutral voice that held no trace of accusation.

Rei looked up at him a little surprised but felt glad for the other's understanding. "No, they won't." He simply answered as they were sharing a look that would not truly have needed any words at all.

To his astonishment, Kai offered him something anyway. "Give it some time, Kon, you're dealing with a lot right now."

Rei hummed softly. "Hmhmm, I guess." He took a deep breath before releasing the air slowly. "It's funny, you know, I had imagined what this would be like, coming back here and…" Again he was lost for words. He didn't even know if the Russian truly wanted to hear this. After all everyone had been so damn excited at the idea that he would finally be able to go home again. Home. What a strange word. This was home, had to be. This apartment. This room. The bed and the wardrobe and the desk, the shelves with the books, those wallpapers.

One showing a very bizarre orange bird, the other a constellation of stars. Nothing seemed familiar, however. Why would someone care to hang up things like that? Had Rei liked birds? Burning ones obviously, and what was it with these stars? Why did nothing, not the tiniest object in this room, trigger anything inside him? He let his gaze dart from left to right again, just to make certain that he had not missed finding the one hint that would – his eyes came to a halt on the teddy bear sitting on his desk, next to a globe that was obviously cut out of wood. "Why did you keep that bear?" He asked, not entirely able to suppress the irritation in his voice.

The one with the heart saying, 'Get well soon, honey'. Kai had thrown away all of the flowers, which made sense, seeing that they would have withered by now but Rei was fairly certain that a few other things he had seen at the hospital were gone as well – not that he truly minded or cared and he was not even considering anymore to make that certain scene about the Russian getting rid of his things but… why that bear?

Kai had followed his gaze and simply shrugged whilst the expression on his face stayed pretty much the same. Closed up but not unfriendly. "It's from Tala." It appeared that the Russian thought that to be enough of an explanation. Maybe it would have been. For the old Rei. The one who would remember. After a moment of awkward silence Kai seemed to realize so too. He coughed a little. "He would not be happy about that." He added in the attempt of a better explanation but that actually left the Chinese even more confused.

Tala would not be happy about that? A couple of pictures were coming alive in his head then but they were not truly old memories but rather recent ones. The redhead on the photos. He had always looked a little wicked but not actually…"So, you're scared of him?" The words were out before the Chinese could stop himself and his eyebrows shot up in question. Was that what Kai was actually telling him here? That could not actually be the case, could it?

In an instant the Russian's eyes seemed to darken a little. "Not scared." He huffed as an immediate retort rather harshly before he looked as if he was inwardly reminding himself of something and then continued in a more… moderate tone. "He just has this way of becoming really annoying when you're stupid enough to give him reason to."

Ah… yes and Kai would not enjoy getting annoyed by anyone… it was kind of interesting, however. The Russian would not throw away a hideously ugly looking teddy bear out of fear that he could get harassed about it by a person who was hundreds and hundreds of miles away… Russia. Rei did not know a lot about the country. Just that is was cold there and snowy and what he had learned out of the few stupid remarks Tyson had made about polka and vodka…"The other's said you grew up together, right?"

The Russian made a few steps into the room and came to lean against his desk. His eyes looked almost black from over there on the bed now but had a special glow to them as Rei noticed. "Something like that." He answered eventually and it was somewhat obvious that if Kai had a choice he would rather change topic now – well, he did have a choice. "Did you happen to find your little safe yet?"

That question made Rei's ears prick up. His little what? Safe? He had a safe inside here? What an odd thing. He had thought safes were supposed to be kept at a bank and what would he have put in there? Money?

Obviously the face he made was enough of a requirement for Kai to answer his very own question. "It's hidden somewhere behind these books." The Russian nodded in the direction of one of the shelves. "You often said you were keeping your real treasures in there."

Real treasures? Like what? Gold? Diamonds? Certainly not that… so what could it be? The Chinese had to admit now he was feeling a little curious. His real treasures… what would the old Rei have considered a real treasure? "So, what's inside?"

The Russian shrugged. "I don't know. You never shared the code."

"The code?" Oh… a code. Damn. Why a stupid code? Well, sure, why keep things in a safe that you could not lock but… why not get a safe with a key? With a key he at least would have had a chance to get it open, sure he would have needed to find said key then but that would have been way easier than… a damn code.

"Yeah, it's a seven-digit code." The Russian explained nonchalantly and Rei's heart slid down into his stomach.

SEVEN-DIGIT code? Why not two or three but seven? He was supposed to remember a seven-digit code without any sort of hint, whatsoever? It could not even be his birthday or something. No, seven-digits that was - plain impossible! And Kai had to know so and he… he was having his fun with him here, was he not? That sneaky…! "Are you telling me that to be an ass, Hiwatari?"

Kai leaned his head to the side a little and for the first time since he came into his room, his expression altered a little. One side of his mouth quirked upwards a little. "No, Kon, I'm telling you because I'm trying to be helpful in getting you settled in, as I was reminded to do by finger twitch guy and loudmouth, loudmouth's older brother, your coffee buddy who doesn't even know yet that you have no love for the black brew anymore and –"

Rei rolled his eyes a little. "Alright, alright, I get it." Yes, his 'friends' had hassled the Russian about that, especially within these last days before his release even Rei had noticed so but… it's not as if he had asked them to! Quite the opposite. He had felt rather embarrassed at the whole ruckus everyone had made and it certainly was not in his interest to make Kai feel cross. "I know they annoyed you a little but it's not as if I ordered them to, you know. It's not as if I could control their…"

He was fishing for the right word, Kai decided to be helpful here, as well. "Insanity."

"Insanity." Rei agreed with a nod, eagerly accepting the Russian's help since for once it seemed to be a fitting moment for that. "So why let it out on me?" He tried to make his voice sound a little pitiful but truth be told he was not especially good at that and he doubted that even if he was, the Russian would feel only a grain of sympathy towards him.

"You see the problem is, you are the only one here." Kai was liking this, Rei could tell, he was liking this way too much!

His golden eyes narrowed a little. "Ever heard of an invention called telephone, Hiwatari?"

The Russian showed him clearly that he was not impressed by that idea. "I'm not a fan of phones, Kon, I prefer to see my opponent's reaction in a face to face talk."

Ah, yeah, the Russian would, wouldn't he? Rei pulled an especially wild face, just for Kai, who got the message and enjoyed it anyhow. "Recover some more of that obnoxiousness, you'll need it." The Russian advised whilst striding towards the exit of the room.

"Is that a threat?" Rei asked, unable to suppress the amusement in his voice.

The Russian halted in the door and turned his head to send the other man one of his special looks that was adorned by a half smirk that left no room for many interpretations. "A friendly warning."

The Chinese snorted and laughed out a little, shaking his head. Despite everything, he was grateful that Kai was here with him. "Good night, Hiwatari."

Rei was not certain if it was the light or his own imagination but for a tiny second the other man's face had looked almost wistful but then a little smile was back in his eyes. "Good night, Kon."

.

.

It could have been many hours or maybe just minutes. Rei couldn't tell but what he knew was that he would not be able to fall asleep. There was unrest inside of him, an unexplainable itching and a strange inner conflict. Maybe it was this room, maybe it was just him, but something felt wrong. He shoved it on the fact that he had been so used to sleeping in the hospital bed. This bed felt unfamiliar and though it was a lot more comfortable, he was unable to find any position that would allow him to truly settle down. In the end he gave up.

He reached for his crutches and slowly moved off the bed again. His arms were shaking and he felt his body becoming warm at the effort it took, yet he managed to stand. Yes, he could stand and he could walk. Slowly, clumsily, like a child making his first steps maybe, but to him it still felt like a miracle. Each and every step was a little wonder. He would never have believed that he could get to this point in such a short amount of time, but here he was. He had survived an accident that should have cost his life and after a long coma he had woken up again not nearly as broken as it had to be expected. And now he walked. It was still hard to really get his mind around all of that. So much had happened, so much had changed and would still change… again he took in the room as he carefully made his way to the door. Maybe in a few weeks he would… feel something. For now it was just a room. It did not offer any security or warmth and it was too… silent.

He made for the living room and sat down on the couch. Dark blue with white pillows. It looked invitingly, he had thought so many hours ago already, when Kai had showed him around for the very first time – to him it felt like it at least. Rei turned on the TV with the remote control that had been lying next to him on a little table but soon lost interest in finding an actual program. There were too many. Over a hundred channels in different languages. That could really make his head hurt. He just wanted to hear some sound. In his room, in Rei's room, it had been too quiet.

Home. So this was home. The place he had spent the last years of his life. He had slept here, and cooked in that kitchen over there and sat on this very couch watching TV… what kind of movies had he liked? Documentaries? Action or Romance? He made a face. Sure not that sappy stuff. Tyson and Max had come to watch a movie with him that one afternoon. They had thought it to be a good idea to entertain him whilst they were waiting for the doctor to bring the new results about his condition… it had been a nice idea, just… Max had won a card game against Tyson or something and therefore secured himself the right on deciding on the movie. He had brought his favorite, and, to Rei, it had been awful and he was still being nice here. Tyson had not looked excited, as well, and had described the movie to be a 'stupid chick flick'. Suspiciously enough he had known the whole plot and could recite most of the conversations also. Secretly, and of that Rei was convinced, the cap-wearer had enjoyed that movie a bit too often already!

"Can't sleep?" A quiet and familiar voice invaded his thoughts and brought him back to the here and now. Had the TV been too loud? He had not meant to cause any discomfort for Kai. It was not his fault that he was unable to put his mind to rest. "Well, yes, I mean, no, it's just that– "

The Russian stood before him in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts, so what he saw when he turned his head to make eye contact was a lot of creamy skin, a lot more skin than he had ever seen on anyone else but himself and his own skin was a little darker, even though it was obvious he had lost some color in the months of his - anyway, what he saw was a lot of skin and he was not even quite sure himself why that fact irritated him enough to forget his very own sentence – it just did. And he was not fast enough to recover from his… he guessed what he did was staring, at least according to Kai's reaction.

"You want me to put on a shirt, Kon?" The question was asked in the driest of tones possible and the implication sent an awkward heat into the Chinese's cheeks. It wasn't like that! He had just… just not expected that! Was it normal for people to run around half naked in… well, yes, this was Kai's apartment too and they were both guys so… it probably was normal and the Russian would not think anything doing it, but… he had just not expected that, okay? That wasn't a damn crime, gee!

He turned his head away and scoffed a little, trying to get over this awkward moment of – he just wanted to get over it! "No need."

"Good." Kai simply answered and then Rei felt the cushion of the couch dip in as the Russian settled down next to him. "What are you watching then?"

Rei blinked and tried to… get his thoughts back on track. "I'm not sure, I was just zapping around and somehow got stuck on this, I guess."

"That's a black and white movie."

And here he was again. Kai Hiwatari. King of stating the obvious! "It is." Rei simply replied. He could play that part too.

The Russian made a noise that sounded like a little grunt. "Can we watch something else then?"

Well, yes, sure. It was not as if Rei was totally keen on seeing this movie. It was as he had said, he had just somehow gotten stuck there, not paying attention anymore when his thoughts had taken on a path of their own. He did not really care for black and white movies… at least he didn't think so. He hardly had had the chance to even begin to understand what the movie was actually about. "Here you go." He said and held out the remote control to his right, so that Kai could take it off him and decide on a program more to his own liking. He didn't really care; he had just turned on the TV for the sounds.

To his surprise it took quite a moment until the Russian reacted. Long enough for the woman on the screen in the antique looking dress to walk over to a wooden sideboard where she filled her glass with a colorless whine. Well, not truly colorless, it was dark grey.

Then he felt how the remote was taken out of his hand but that was not what... he froze. No, he had to have imagined... no. That couldn't be, could it? But it had almost… it had almost felt as if… as if the Russian's thumb had stroked over the back of his hand there for a moment. But that would be… Rei tried to glance at Kai's profile unobtrusively but there was no sign that… well, what kind of expression should someone wear who… and he was just… he was being silly! Had to be and he should just… take a breath and... it was nothing. Kai had simply taken the remote from him and therefore their fingers had brushed together. Just that he had felt the touch at a place where… no way. Why would the Russian do something like that? Why would… damn, Kai had just said something. It sounded like a question but he had no idea… he certainly would not have… no just, be normal!

"Erm, what?"

The Russian drew a single eyebrow at him. Rei couldn't help it, he still found that damn fascinating. He had even tried it out a couple of times in front of a mirror but he had failed at doing it – and quite pitifully so! Damn, this Russian! "Spacing out again, are we? I asked if you're okay with this." His head made a little movement in the direction of the TV.

Rei felt like an idiot but that was okay, he was rather used to it by now. He followed the Russian's gaze and oh well, yeah, why not? He couldn't tell what it was about, looking at it only for a moment or two anyway. Some people and they were at a bar or something? Well, what could happen at a bar? Many things obviously. Now the focus was on a blond woman, she was looking at her watch, impatiently waiting for someone… Rei felt a tiny bit apprehensive suddenly. "That's not a chick flick, right?"

Kai gave him a look that seemed to be a mix between 'are you freaking kidding me and do you want me to throw you out of the window?'. The Chinese felt satisfied enough with that for the moment. "Sure, let's watch it."


End file.
